The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Man pleads guilty to selling fentanyl
Admits to selling drugs in Lake County
A man accused of selling drugs, including fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, in Lake County has pleaded guilty to charges in federal court.
Westley Siggers pleaded guilty this month in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio to charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances and two counts of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances. Siggers is scheduled to be sentenced on the charges Dec. 11.
He was among 22 people named earlier this year in a 42-count indictment as part of an alleged drug trafficking ring selling heroin, fentanyl and other drugs to more than 300 customers in Northeast Ohio.
Siggers was accused in the indictment of possessing several grams of drugs in Willoughby when he was parked in a Ford F-150 pickup truck in the city’s Motel 6 on Jan. 8, 2018. The drugs
were 6.06 grams of cocaine and 4.37 grams of a mixture comprised of heroin, carfentanil and cocaine.
About five months later, on June 6, 2018, Siggers is accused of selling a mixture of heroin, fentanyl and fentanyl analogs to a person who overdosed in Wickliffe.
He also is accused of attempting to flee from police when officers tried to stop him, according to the indictment.
Officials said he had 29 grams of fentanyl analogs and almost 5 grams of cocaine.
The members of the drug trafficking ring focused on selling drugs to customers on the east side of Cleveland as well as Euclid and Lake County, according to federal officials.
Drugs sold included heroin, fentanyl, fentanyl analogs such as carfentanil and acetylfentanyl, crack cocaine and powder cocaine. The heroin sold by the group was generally mixed with fentanyl, fentanyl analogs or a combination of them.
The group went by the name “The Grovewood Boys,” taking its name from Grovewood Avenue in the Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland.
Members allegedly used phones in the names of other people to avoid detection by law enforcement. A single “customer phone” was passed between members so customers could buy drugs at any hour.
Officials allege that Joseph P. Gray, Jr. led the drug trafficking operation.
Siggers and others primarily sold to their own customer bases but coordinated with Gray to keep an inventory of drugs available for sale, officials said.
Gray recently pleaded guilty to 22 charges against him. Charges included conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, distribution of controlled substances, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and use of a communications facility in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
He is set to be sentenced Dec. 4.