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Ex-football player for YSU pleads guilty to 9 drug counts scharges
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In this photo from Youngstown State's annual football media day in 2008, Tyler Griffin kisses his daughter.
Tyler M. Griffin
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
YOUNGSTOWN
A former Youngstown State University football player, who authorities said was a major marijuana supplier to his fellow students, has pleaded guilty to seven counts of marijuana trafficking and two counts of funding of drug trafficking.
Tyler M. Griffin, 24, entered his guilty plea Monday just as his trial was scheduled to begin before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Griffin, who was a cornerback in 2008, is a nephew of Archie Griffin, president of the Ohio State University Alumni Association and two-time Heisman Trophy winner, according to Martin P. Desmond, an assistant county prosecutor.
Desmond said he will seek a four-year prison term for Tyler Griffin, who he described as a mid-level drug dealer.
Having been arrested in Columbus earlier this year on a bench warrant for failure to appear in court in this case, Griffin remains jailed without bond pending his 9 a.m. Aug. 26 sentencing. The judge will have wide latitude in sentencing, with the available total prison time for Griffin ranging from two to 34 years.
“He was dealing to YSU students. If YSU is the lifeblood of this community, which I think it is, we have to keep people like this away from our campus,’’ Desmond said.
“Guns and drugs and violence go hand-in-hand. So we don’t want him near, and we want to send a message to other drug dealers to stay away from our campus. You’re there to go to school, not deal drugs,” Desmond said.
Griffin did not make any of the marijuana sales he was charged with on campus, but he made them within about 500 feet of the campus, Desmond said.
University students typically would meet Griffin, who was known as “Grif,” at his Ohio Avenue apartment to buy marijuana, Desmond said.
The offenses Griffin was charged with in the secret indictment occurred in October and November 2008.
Sgt. Randy Williams, of the university police department, who is a member of the Mahoning Valley Drug Task Force, played a major role in investigating this case, the prosecutor said.
“This case was initiated by the YSU police as part of an ongoing and proactive effort to protect the health and safety of the campus and its students,” said Ron Cole, director of university communications.
As a task force member, YSU is “able to tap into all kinds of resources that allow us to ensure that any illicit drug activity on or around campus is dealt with quickly and effectively,” he added.
Griffin would mail large amounts of cash to a California supplier, who would then mail large amounts of marijuana to Griffin, and police intercepted one of the marijuana packages, Desmond said.
The dollar amounts of the transactions Griffin pleaded guilty to range from $20 to $30 apiece for the lower-level charges, to $800 each for two one-pound transactions, to $4,800 for a five-pound transaction, Desmond said.
Griffin’s co-defendant in this case, Andre O. Johnson, 29, of Rockview Avenue, pleaded guilty to one count each of marijuana trafficking and improperly handling a gun in a motor vehicle; and Judge Sweeney gave him three years’ probation.
Since then, Johnson, a former city firefighter, has been charged with new gun and drug offenses, Desmond said.
Comments
Another young person throwing his life away over drugs. Pitiful.
Johnson, a former city firefighter, nice job, nice career and sells drugs with guns. Go figure. No jobs, huh?
No success stories in drugs... Wonder if they know anything about some murders as well...
When you deal in drugs, sooner or later you're gonna get caught. Why risk your life away for "easy money"? How "easy" is it really?
Surprising?,..not in the least.
Ahhh,.. just a small plunder and pilfer purveyance. Of the many and multi facets of the criminal " Subculture's " operating at the fraud, theft and deception hub known as,.. Y.S. Shrew.
Here we merely have a student of the game and a conduit of the many channels of criminality. That's being so methodically cultivated and proliferated for all those grants, abatement's, loans and stipends.
Where no way was he good enough to play division I. But he was a perfect fit for the operations down at the city's duplicitous dupe on didactics and sham on scholastics.
Nunya, do you actually talk like that? You managed to make a large vocabulary look stupid. It was like you kept all of your word of the day calender days in a drawer and threw them randomly in that comment. You're being boring, stop boring everyone.
He/She is kind of like the Dr. Seuss of Vindy.com
Whew! I thought it was just me! I have such a hard time reading his comments!
It ain't the words; Nunya's sentence structuring sort of makes it choppy reading. But I have read one of his posts which was in our "shirt-sleeve" English and it was well written. Direct and to the point.
Here's the thing,..
For starters one has to question how Andre O. Johnson, drew probation when he was charged as a city / county employee.
Where how this reads in regards to dynamics it sounds like Johnson had a recruitment hook in Griffin.
See not that all aren't targeted to be used as pawns in the dope game. But jocks beware because as a high vis draw card. Dealers in the drug game see you as personal trophy's, financial investments, social acceptance and broad market distributor.
It's practiced all over the place and locally we've unfortunately witnessed how they targeted and got Maurice Clarett and most recently Jamel Turner and now Mr. Griffin.
Clarett was a lock for the NFL and Turner was turning just as many heads with his athletic abilities. But what those youngsters didn't know. Was the good graces of criminals wasn't because they wanted to help them.
The criminals latched on because they wanted to hurt, milk, hinder, manipulate, blackmail and if not totally destroy them out of envy.
Where having watched Griffin play he's no Deion Sanders but there were flashes that signified he could have played D I ball. At times I wondered was it just grades that he was dealing with why he hadn't.
But now it's revealed he didn't because his head wasn't straight so he went where he could more just play than truly apply himself.
With no jealousy in the least, I'd have loved to have met and spoken with him. That is before he faltered into taking the bait of thinking the drug game was fast cash easy money.
See in his case had he worked at his athletic abilities positionally beyond D I ball he could have made an NFL roster. He's got good enough speed and at times reacted to the ball pretty well.
But he showed lapses in judgment on the field and in a lot of cases that's what determines if you go to the next level or not.
Now those lapses have to be associated with his judgment pertaining to activities off the field.
I'm not any advocate of sympathizing with criminal activity but everybody can make a mistake. Where in that picture he seems to have a beautiful kid whom he wants to provide for and he tampered with the wrong route to do it.
See his academics couldn't have been his focus so it's a given that just like on the field his grades weren't what he's capable of either. So conventional job market aside a bit here.
With the NFL minimum salary they'd have made more money in one year to provide for self and family. Than they'd make in " years " as a situational role playing member on the criminality bench.
If just as a practice squad hold or 3rd string developmental prospect. He'd have had to make thousands of those nickel on the dollar transactions. To even come close to the money he'd have made on the field had he really and truly wanted it.
PART II
Not all players realize that pro teams are VERY keen on UDFA's because they fall under a cheaper keep. Drafted players have a guaranteed signing bonus beyond min scale salary and UDFA's come dirt cheap to sign.
So if a UDFA comes into a camp and plays as well as a drafted player by the money he's the keeper. Not by any personal measure but because he's kept for less cost and not all are nor have to be a Josh Cribbs talent either.
No super athlete but not all has his athletic ability either. But he curtailed it himself by splitting his focus between family, the field, the classroom and watching the cops.
Not just him but nobody's that talented to be able to split focus in so many directional ways and not drop the ball sooner or later.
Just like not running him up a flag pole and not to blame anybody for his decisions either. But with Archie Griffith being his uncle. One can only wonder is Archie so full of himself he didn't school his nephew. Or if he'd tried and nephew just didn't listen.
Either way now the young man has a lesson to learn. Which no matter what he wanted to do. If he thought it was tough then he's now made it a lot tougher on himself no matter what he wanted to pursue if it was outside of thinking bad decisions were going to produce anything other than what he's finding out now.
That said as best we know he's no gun wielding killer nor robber. So lets just hope he makes better decisions in the future and that beautiful little kid gets her daddy to enjoy raising her.
I'm hoping all the youth wake up and hope Maurice well as he transitions back into society. And I'm glad that young Mr. Turner was given another chance at life as well and hopes he makes better decisions.