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Drug trafficker sentenced to 10 years for role in $1.2M cocaine bust

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By Denise G. Callahan, Staff Writer 6:32 PM Wednesday, February 8, 2012

HAMILTON — A California drug trafficker will spend the next 10 years in prison for his part in a $1.2 million cocaine bust.

Butler County Common Pleas Judge Craig Hedric sentenced Aron Rich, 39, of Los Angeles to 10 years in prison and fined him $10,000 on Wednesday. His case wraps up a drug sting that spanned three counties and netted $1.2 million worth of cocaine.

His partners in the drug ring, Daniel Rubio-Rodriguez, 30 of Cincinnati and Santiago Ayon-Sanchez, 45 of California, each pleaded guilty and received seven and eight years in prison, respectively.

The Hamilton Police Department was tipped off by a confidential informant that a drug deal was going down and police tracked the men through Butler, Hamilton and Montgomery counties with a GPS tracker and men on the ground.

The police rented a vehicle for the confidential informant and placed the GPS tracker under the rear bumper. Rich was driving the vehicle at some times during the drug operation.

The GPS tail will be one issue on appeal, according to Rich’s defense attorney Marty Pinales. About a week after a Butler County jury found Rich guilty, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down an opinion that deems warrantless GPS tracking unconstitutional.

Not only was Rich fined the mandatory $10,000 amount, the county has initiated a civil forfeiture proceeding to seize $26,604 they found on Rich’s person, in a storage unit he rented and in his hotel room.

Prosecutor Mike Gmoser said he would not comment on the potential appeal or the disparity in the sentences for the three men. He said sentencing decisions are in the court’s purview, unless he is seeking the death penalty, but there is something to be said for admitting one’s guilt.

“I always feel that way, regardless of how the sentencing considerations are determined by the court,” he said. “I’ve always felt a good act of contrition goes a long way towards redemption.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4525 or dcallahan@coxohio.com.

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