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YOUNGSTOWN -- Federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint Thursday in U.S. District Court against Raphael Ortiz, 40, of Wesley Avenue, accusing him of possessing drugs with intent to distribute them and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The charges stem from a search warrant executed at Ortiz's West Side home and two South Side locations Wednesday morning. He was arrested at the time of the searches.
During the search of the Wesley Avenue residence, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mahoning Valley Violent Crimes Task Force and Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force found $26,315 in cash, a handgun and ammunition. Ortiz and a woman were at the home at the time. The woman said the gun was not hers.
The details of the search are contained in an affidavit filed by an FBI agent in federal court. The affidavit was filed in support of the agent's request for the search warrant.
At the same time as the Wesley search, agents with the FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Mahoning Valley Crisis Response team and others executed a search warrant at a residence on Neilson Avenue on the South Side associated with Ortiz. There, they found a bag containing cocaine and other unidentified narcotics; narcotics distribution items such as digital scales, gloves and bags; two handguns and two long guns and ammunition.
Agents also used a search warrant at another Nielson address associated with Ortiz and confiscated five bags of suspected fentanyl weighing about 6.3 pounds, a handgun and two long guns and ammunition, the affidavit states.
Ortiz was convicted once in 2004 and once in 2005 on felony offenses punishable by at least one year in prison. Such offenses typically prevent a person from possessing firearms.
In 2004, Ortiz was convicted of heroin possession and assault on a peace officer in Mahoning County. In 2005, he was convicted of drug trafficking offenses in Cuyahoga County, the affidavit states.
Ortiz was scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court in Cleveland on Friday afternoon.
erunyan@tribtoday.com