COLUMBUS – Three men from Columbus, Grove City and Sandusky have been indicted in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on more than 100 counts of charges related of using drones to smuggle drugs, cellphones and other contraband into Ohio prisons.
Robert Faulkner, 33, Columbus; Cory Sutphin, 28, of Grove City, and Charles Gibbs, 33, of Sandusky are facing a combine 116 charges after the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Office of Investigative Services and investigators from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s Chief Inspector’s Office determined they smuggled contraband into five state prisons in Marion, Chillicothe, and elsewhere, according to a joint release from the agencies..
The investigation started after a drone carrying contraband landed inside a prison in Toledo on May 28, 2021, and culminated after several months with the identification of the three men as suspects who were using drones to convey illegal drugs, phones and other contraband onto the grounds of the Toledo, Mansfield, Richland, and Ross correctional institutions, and the North Central Correctional Complex in Marion, according to patrol spokesman Lt. Nathan Dennis and ODRC public information officer JoEllen Smith.
A search warrant was executed at Faulkner’s Columbus residence on Nov. 16, 2021, where a total of $319,820 worth of illegal drugs, weapons, cell phones and other contraband, believed to be intended for use in future smuggling operations, were seized by troopers and investigators, Dennis and Smith said.
The three were indicted on April 7 on a variety of felony charges, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, trafficking and possession of cocaine and a fentanyl-related compound, possession of criminal tools, aggravated possession of drugs, and having weapons under disability.