Cincinnati man sentenced to 17 years in prison for trafficking fentanyl, cocaine

CINCINNATI – A Cincinnati man who was convicted at trial in December 2021 of trafficking narcotics was sentenced in federal court here today to 204 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release.

Lelon Campbell, 30, distributed and possessed with the intent to distribute fentanyl and cocaine.

According to court documents and trial testimony, from June through October 2018, Campbell possessed more than 130 grams of fentanyl and approximately 27 grams of cocaine.

As a career criminal, Campbell was either on bond or under community control when he committed the offenses in his federal case.

Campbell was charged federally in 2019. At the time of his arrest, he attempted to get to two handguns before being stopped by SWAT officers. Campbell also had a large number of high capacity, high powered weapons in two “go-bags” in his basement.

In video surveillance, Campbell threatened to shoot a witness. The video played at trial shows Campbell directing a drug buyer to pull up his shirt so Campbell could check for a wire. He told the witness that he would shoot him if he was working for the police.

Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; John Nokes, Acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge announced the sentence imposed today by U.S. District Judge Douglas R. Cole. Assistant United States Attorney Timothy D. Oakley and Special Assistant United States Attorney John Zachary Kessler from the Cincinnati City Solicitor’s Office represented the United States in this case.

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