A 29-year-old Akron man who authorities say fired at a police officer in 2023 and later ran a drug trafficking operation stocked with fentanyl, methamphetamine and a 3D printer has been sentenced to 20 to 25.5 years in prison. Summit County Prosecutor Elliot Kolkovich announced Wednesday that Rodney Andrus Jr. was sentenced in Summit County Common Pleas Court across three separate criminal cases.
The sentence, imposed the week before the public announcement, resolves a case that began in November 2023 when an Akron police officer responded to the sound of gunshots near South Arlington Road, according to WKYC. Suspects opened fire at the officer before fleeing, and police later tracked down the vehicle involved. The vehicle's owner claimed Andrus had been renting it. Shell casings recovered from the scene matched casings later found at a residence connected to Andrus, and location data from his cellphone placed him at the scene of the shooting, according to Cleveland.com.
Andrus pleaded no contest to improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation or school safety zone, discharge of a firearm on or near prohibited premises, felonious assault and tampering with evidence, per the same account. He also pleaded no contest to having weapons while under disability in connection with the shooting case, and separately pleaded guilty to one count of having weapons while under disability tied to the drug case.
A 3D Printer, Fentanyl and Six Guns
The drug trafficking case stemmed from an October 2024 search warrant executed at a residence connected to Andrus. Officers seized 316 grams of methamphetamine, 176 grams of fentanyl, six firearms, cash and drug packaging materials, the outlet notes. Investigators also recovered scales, baggies, a money counter and a 3D printer — equipment frequently scrutinized in drug and firearms cases for its potential use in producing untraceable weapon parts.
Officers reported finding $2,230 in cash and multiple cellphones during a search of Andrus's home, along with an additional $1,240 in cash at the residence, according to Cleveland.com's reporting. Andrus pleaded no contest to aggravated trafficking in drugs and trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound in connection with the case.
Kolkovich, in a statement, said Akron police officers put themselves in harm's way to bring Andrus to justice, and he expressed appreciation for what he called the courage and dedication of officers who work to keep the community safe. Prosecutors had said Andrus could spend more than 25 years in prison.
Why the Sentence Has a Built-In Ceiling
The 20-to-25.5-year range reflects Ohio's Reagan Tokes Law, enacted in 2019, which requires judges to impose indefinite sentences with minimum and maximum terms for qualifying first- and second-degree felonies — setting the maximum term at 50% above the minimum, according to The Marshall Project. The law was created after the 2017 murder of student Reagan Tokes by a recently released felon with a lengthy record of prison rule violations.
The Supreme Court of Ohio upheld the law's constitutionality in July 2023, ruling 5-2 in State v. Hacker that allowing state prison officials to hold an inmate up to the maximum term for disciplinary infractions does not violate constitutional rights, per Court News Ohio. That means Andrus is guaranteed to serve at least 20 years, but whether he serves the full 25.5 rests with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction based on his conduct behind bars.
Part of a Broader Crackdown in Summit County
The case fits a pattern for Kolkovich's office, which has repeatedly pursued violent offenders tied to bulk narcotics trafficking and firearm possession. The prosecutor previously secured a conviction against 33-year-old Antonio Miller, who pleaded guilty to first-degree felony aggravated drug trafficking with firearm specifications and was designated a Major Drug Offender, according to the Beacon Journal.
South Arlington Road has seen other violent crime in recent years. In November 2024, Summit County prosecutors secured an 18-year minimum sentence in a case along the same corridor where a 27-year-old Akron man shot and killed a drive-thru clerk following a dispute over money, WKYC reported at the time. That defendant pleaded guilty to murder and felonious assault.
The prosecution also lands amid wider federal and local efforts targeting Akron's gun and drug networks. In September 2025, federal and local law enforcement announced 17 federal indictments charging more than 30 individuals, alongside the creation of the Akron Crime Gun Intelligence Center, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio. During that 60-day initiative, authorities seized dozens of firearms along with significant quantities of fentanyl and methamphetamine.
Statewide, the fentanyl driving much of this enforcement remains a leading killer even as overdose numbers fall. Unintentional drug overdose deaths in Ohio dropped 34% from 2023 to 2,931 in 2024, though fentanyl or its analogs were still involved in 69% of all fatal overdoses statewide, per the Ohio Department of Health.
Part of a Larger Pattern of Akron Gun Violence
Andrus's case adds to a string of recent Akron stories involving guns and police accountability. Hoodline previously reported that the city reached a $4.75 million settlement and fired an officer following the fatal November 2024 shooting of 15-year-old Jazmir Tucker, after responding officers failed to activate their body cameras. And in March, a 15-year-old was arrested on felonious assault and evidence tampering charges after opening fire during a road-rage confrontation on SR-8 that left his 17-year-old brother dead.
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