Cincinnati man sentenced to 10 years in prison for cocaine & fentanyl crimes

CINCINNATI – Vernon Powell, 44, of Cincinnati, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 120 months in prison for committing new narcotics crimes while on supervised release.

According to court documents, investigators determined that Powell had mailed a kilogram of cocaine from Houston to Cincinnati in June 2023.

In October 2023, during subsequent searches at properties that Powell used on Compton Road and Bassett Road, law enforcement officials discovered cocaine, fentanyl, multiple firearms and more than $28,000 in cash.

At the time, Powell was on supervised release for drug and firearm offenses for which he had been previously sentenced to 15 years in prison. 

Powell had petitioned the Court in September 2023, one month prior to the execution of search warrants in this case and asked the Court for early termination of his supervised release, noting that the “barriers of supervision” don’t allow him to “excel as he knows he is capable.”

Powell pleaded guilty in October 2024 to possessing with the intent to distribute cocaine and fentanyl.

Kelly A. Norris, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey and other members of the Regional Enforcement Narcotics Unit announced the sentence imposed today by U.S. District Court Judge U.S. District Judge Matthew W. McFarland. Assistant United States Attorneys Ryan A. Keefe and Timothy D. Oakley are representing the United States in this case.

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