A 47-year-old Cincinnati man was arrested Tuesday on felony drug trafficking charges after a lengthy police investigation into the Central Business District led detectives to a Westwood home where they say they found more than $230,000 in cash, multiple firearms and several kilograms of illegal narcotics. Andre Neal now faces a Major Drug Offender designation under Ohio law, a classification that can require a mandatory prison term for qualifying offenses.
Neal was booked on September 1 on felony drug trafficking charges along with a tinted window traffic violation, according to Hamilton County sources. As reported by WLWT, the arrest followed a lengthy investigation by the Cincinnati Police Department's Central Business Section Violent Crimes Squad into illegal drug trafficking along the Court Street corridor, a stretch of the Central Business District that includes the city's downtown core.
That investigation ultimately led police to serve a search warrant at Neal's residence in Westwood, according to the station's report. Officers say they recovered more than $230,000 in cash, two firearms and several kilograms of narcotics from the home, though police have not specified which type of illegal drug Neal is accused of trafficking or possessing, per the same account.
A Major Drug Offender Designation
Police say the quantity of narcotics recovered from Neal's home was well over the threshold required to classify him as a Major Drug Offender, the article notes. Under Ohio Revised Code ยง 2929.14, qualifying offenses carry mandatory prison terms, with a stated minimum selected from three to 11 years and a maximum determined under ORC 2929.144. The available sources do not establish whether fentanyl-related compounds would bring additional mandatory years.
To trigger the Major Drug Offender classification, Ohio law generally requires possession or trafficking of at least 100 grams of cocaine or heroin, 100 grams of a fentanyl-related compound, 1,000 grams of hashish, or 100 times the bulk amount of another Schedule I or II controlled substance, according to the Joslyn Law Firm. No source provided explains how, if at all, Neal's initial traffic stop on September 1 connected to the search warrant executed at his Westwood home.
Keeping Court Street Plaza Clear of Street-Level Trade
The Cincinnati Police Department said drug trafficking commonly leads to violence and property crimes, which it said will not be tolerated in the Central Business District. The department's Central Business Section is housed at The Banks, while Downtown Cincinnati partners with more than 85 Downtown Cincinnati Ambassadors on public-safety work, including patrols intended to reduce disorder and crime across downtown, according to Downtown Cincinnati.
The Court Street corridor at the center of the investigation underwent a $5.5 million streetscape renovation completed in 2021 by the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp., turning the stretch between Vine and Walnut streets into a pedestrian-friendly plaza for businesses and events, per 3CDC. The investment transformed the stretch between Vine and Walnut streets into a pedestrian-friendly plaza for businesses and events.
From Cincinnati's Largest Neighborhood to Downtown's Core
Westwood, where police executed the search warrant, is one of Cincinnati's largest neighborhoods, Hoodline previously reported. The case links that West Side residential community to the downtown commercial corridor where the alleged distribution was taking place, illustrating the alleged scope of the operation.
Neal's arrest adds to a string of major narcotics cases moving through Cincinnati courts this year. In March, a federal court sentenced a Cincinnati fentanyl-trafficking leader to 216 months in prison. A month earlier, a federal judge sentenced a West End drug-trafficking leader. Whether federal prosecutors will take up Neal's case, given the scale of the cash and narcotics involved, remains an open question.
