Rita Gray, Fentanyl Trafficking, Ohio 2020

A federal indictment has charged Rita Gray, 68, of Columbus, Ohio, in a fentanyl trafficking conspiracy that also involved her son, Eric Gray, 31.

The indictment alleges that on May 28, 2020, Gray shot and seriously wounded Columbus Police Officer Russ Weiner while Weiner was participating in executing a narcotics-related search warrant at Gray's residence on Chelford Drive.

According to court documents, agents and officers knocked on the door of the residence and announced their presence. After the knock and announce went unanswered, agents and officers made entry into the residence.

Upon entering the residence, law enforcement executing the warrant took on gunfire from Gray, who was present in the vicinity of an interior hallway. Gray was apprehended shortly thereafter, with two semiautomatic Glock manufactured pistols in close proximity.

Gray is charged in the drug conspiracy, and with possessing with the intent to distribute fentanyl, assault of an officer, two counts of discharging a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime and one count of discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. She faces 20 years up to life in prison.

Eric Gray is charged with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine, a crime punishable by 10 years up to life in prison.

David M. DeVillers, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan; Jonathan McPherson, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF); Bryant Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); James Giehl, Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Pittsburgh Division; Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) and Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien announced the charges.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdoh/pr/grand-jury-indicts-mother-and-son-drug-conspiracy