Fairborn man sentenced to prison for drug trafficking

XENIA — A Fairborn man is going to prison after pleading guilty to a drug trafficking charge.

Austin Herald, 24, pleaded guilty to trafficking a Fentanyl-related compound on Tuesday in Greene County Common Pleas Court. He was sentenced to 11-16.5 years in prison, a mandatory term.

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Herald will be supervised by the Adult Parole Authority for at least two years, and up to five years, when he is released from prison.

Court documents showed that Herald sold methamphetamine and fentanyl to confidential informants working with the Greene County A.C.E. Drug Task Force beginning in September 2020. Through this, police were able to get a search warrant for his home in Fairborn and a second home he used in Dayton.

Police served the search warrants in March 2021. More than a kilogram of Fentanyl, over 500 grams of methamphetamine, cocaine, firearms, respirators, cutting agents and other tools used to prepare drugs for distribution were found in Herald’s Dayton home. Additional quantities of Fentanyl and methamphetamine were seized at his Fairborn home.

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Police also seized approximately $66,000 in cash during the searches, according to a release from the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office.

“The drug epidemic continues unabated in our communities whether it is on the front pages or whether it leads the nightly newscasts,” Greene County’s Chief Trial Counsel Andrew Hunt said. “The drug dealers who profit from the sale of this poison must be rooted out and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The Greene County A.C.E. Task Force works for the people of this community going after drug dealers every day. This conviction and sentence is due to their hard work.”

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