By Kristin Rover
Sun staff

After a three-month long narcotics investigation, officials have arrested more than 20 of 39 people who were indicted on 131 drug charges.

The Union Township Police Department Investigative Division and Clermont County Narcotics Unit investigation centered around the sale and usage of heroin in the Piccadilly apartment complex in Union Township, according to Lieutenant Scott Gaviglia, Union Township operations commander.

“This has been a lengthy investigation that has required hundreds of hours of manpower,” Gaviglia said.

The cases were presented to the Clermont County Grand Jury Dec. 4 but indictments were secret and names were not released initially, according to Clermont County Prosecutor Vince Faris.

Union Township police began executing the search warrants in the Piccadilly apartment complex around 3 p.m. Dec. 9.

“We were hoping to get as many people as possible served right there at Piccadilly, rather than everyone taking off and making it hard to find them,” Faris said about the secret indictment.

Faris said some of the individuals arrested have appeared in court.

Those individuals were Joshua Anderson, Tiffany Darnell, William Miree, Robert Harin, Michelle Horton, Stephanie Ivers, Scott Adamson, Tiffany Reeves, Mark Kuehne, Brian Parliar, Mark Stenson, Roy Lynch II, Shawn Drew, Brandon Cook, David White, Kevin Dunning, Dede Thompson, Daniel Humphrey, Paul Daniels, Penny Oberschlake and Victoria Renderos.

Police continue to serve warrants and make arrests, according to Gaviglia.

“As of noon today, we have arrested 22 people off the indictment list and served five warrants,” Gaviglia said Dec. 10.

Once an arrest is made, Faris said the case will proceed as a normal case.

Gaviglia thanked Sheriff A.J. “Tim” Rodenberg and Clermont County Prosecutor Vince Faris and their offices for their guidance and involvement in the investigation.

“This operation is just another great example of the teamwork that exists in Clermont County between departments to attack a countywide problem,” Gaviglia said.

Piccadilly has been known for drug-related crimes for a while, Faris said.

“Piccadilly has been a major problem for years,” Faris said. “They really went all out on operations this year. This has been going on for months. Thirty-nine is a pretty significant collection of people selling and possessing drugs.”

The Union Township Community Improvement Corporation continues to purchase and demolish sites in the Piccadilly area, according to Union Township Administrator Ken Geis.

“Our intent, through the CIC, is to acquire sites that aren’t productive anymore, acquire them and tear them down,” Geis said. “The goal is to acquire enough for a developer to come put new housing stock in there.”

Construction crews recently finished tearing down a building that was acquired in the past two months, according to Geis.

And while the CIC is working to improve the area, Geis said they are not involved in evicting residents. He said they would rather see the existing structures improved.

“The best case scenario would be that the property owner would improve the site,” Geis said.