A Butler County grand jury has indicted 44-year-old Phillip Charles Neal on drug trafficking, drug possession and weapons charges stemming from a search of his Hamilton home nearly a year ago, where investigators say they recovered approximately 240 grams of methamphetamine, smaller amounts of fentanyl and cocaine, and a 9mm handgun.
According to WLWT, the Butler County Undercover Regional Narcotics Task Force and the Hamilton Police Department Neighborhood Police Section Unit executed the search warrant on October 1, 2025, at a home in the 100 block of Franklin Street in Hamilton as part of an ongoing narcotics investigation. The search turned up roughly 240 grams of methamphetamine, 2.5 grams of fentanyl, 1.7 grams of cocaine, and a 9mm handgun, the station reports.
Neal was not taken into custody that day on charges connected to the search warrant itself, per the same account. Instead, he was arrested on outstanding felony warrants unrelated to the raid, and the drug and weapons case moved forward only after a Butler County grand jury later returned an indictment, according to deputies cited by the station's report.
What the Indictment Alleges
The grand jury indicted Neal on aggravated trafficking in drugs involving methamphetamine, aggravated possession of drugs involving methamphetamine, and having weapons while under disability, the report notes. The Butler County Sheriff's Office did not specify when the grand jury returned the indictment, according to WLWT.
Aggravated trafficking and aggravated possession of drugs involving methamphetamine are each first-degree felonies under Ohio law. Having weapons while under disability is a third-degree felony. Under Ohio Revised Code § 2923.13, that charge is punishable by 9 to 36 months in prison and fines up to $10,000, and it bars individuals under indictment or with prior felony drug convictions from possessing firearms, according to Zukerman Law. Separately, under Ohio Revised Code § 2925.03, aggravated drug trafficking involving methamphetamine is elevated to a first-degree felony once the quantity involved meets statutory major-drug-amount thresholds, which carries mandatory state prison time rather than community control, per the Joslyn Law Firm.
A Months-Long Path From Arrest to Indictment
Booking records from the Butler County Sheriff's Office show Neal was processed into the Butler County Jail at 12:35 p.m. on October 1, 2025, the same day the Franklin Street search warrant was executed. Months later, in January, WHIO-TV reported that the sheriff's office was publicly seeking information to locate Neal on active felony warrants, including third-degree felony aggravated drug trafficking, fifth-degree felony drug trafficking, and fifth-degree felony nonsupport, with his last known address listed as 1068 South 13th Street in Hamilton. That public search, detailed by WHIO-TV, came before the formal grand jury indictment tied to the October raid.
The Butler County Sheriff's Office regularly runs a public digital campaign called Warrant Wednesday, publishing profiles of wanted individuals to seek community help locating fugitives with active felony warrants — the kind of effort that preceded Neal's case becoming public.
Part of a Larger Task Force Pattern
The Franklin Street raid was carried out by the Butler County Undercover Regional Narcotics Task Force, known as B.U.R.N., a multijurisdictional unit made up of personnel from the Butler County Sheriff's Office, Hamilton Police, Fairfield Police and probation agencies, supported by federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area grant funding. The task force has a track record of pairing drug seizures with firearm recoveries across the county. In January 2025, a B.U.R.N. search warrant in Fairfield turned up 25 grams of fentanyl, 30 grams of cocaine, 30 fentanyl pills, $3,200 in cash, and an AR-15 pistol, leading to first-degree felony drug charges against a local resident. Two months later, a joint operation across Trenton and Hamilton netted 108 grams of fentanyl, 230 grams of cocaine, two handguns, and $20,000 in cash — a haul that prompted Sheriff Richard K. Jones to say enough lethal doses were removed to save half a million lives, according to the sheriff's office.
Methamphetamine enforcement has remained a persistent focus in Hamilton beyond this case. Hoodline previously reported that Hamilton Police officers seized approximately 6.4 pounds of suspected methamphetamine during a March 2026 traffic stop on Neilan Boulevard, underscoring how frequently local and county agencies are encountering large meth quantities.
Statewide, the stakes behind these seizures remain high even as fatal overdoses have declined. Ohio Department of Health mortality data published in 2025 showed 2,931 Ohio residents died from unintentional drug overdoses in 2024, a 34 percent drop from 2023, though fentanyl was still involved in 69 percent of all fatal overdoses statewide. As with all pending criminal cases, the charges against Neal remain allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
