YOUNGSTOWN — The drug and weapons charges filed against Raphael Ortiz, 40, on Thursday in U.S. District Court have been bound over to a federal grand jury.

Ortiz appeared by video for an initial appearance late Friday and waived a preliminary hearing.

Ortiz will remain in the Mahoning County jail until his next hearing.

Presiding over the hearing was Magistrate Judge Kathleen B. Burke in Cleveland federal court.

Ortiz was arrested Wednesday after investigators entered his home on Wesley Avenue on the West Side and another home associated with him on Neilson Avenue on the South Side.

They recovered drugs, weapons and cash.

Among the items seized were several firearms and more than 6 pounds of suspected fentanyl.

They searched after obtaining a warrant.

Federal prosecutors charged him with possessing drugs with intent to distribute them and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Ortiz is not permitted to possess firearms because of previous felony convictions.

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