Elyria man charged with federal drug, gun crimes

A federal grand jury has charged an Elyria man with trafficking in fentanyl and illegal weapons possession after his arrest and a search of his house and car in March. A three-count indictment announced Friday charged Jason Delaney, 39, with possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. Delaney pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment before Magistrate Judge Kathleen Burke in U.S. District Court in Cleveland on Friday. He was ordered held in federal custody. According to federal court documents and Elyria police, Delaney was arrested at the Ohio Adult Parole Authority office in Elyria, and both a residence in Lorain and car were searched on March 24. According to a complaint filed in federal court by Elyria police Detective Michael Walker, Elyria and Lorain narcotics detectives and FBI agents arrested Delaney at the parole office before searching the residence at 2156 E. 40th St. in Lorain as well as Delaney's 2010 Dodge Nitro. He allegedly sold drugs to a confidential Elyria police informant four times in March, according to the complaint. The Lorain County Crime/Drug Lab confirmed there was fentanyl in the compounds Delaney sold and Walker got a search warrant from a Lorain County judge. At Delaney's house, detectives found two packages of suspected fentanyl weighing 109.5 grams and 16.6 grams, a package of heroin weighing 6.9 grams, two separate packages of crack cocaine weighing 24 grams and 6.6 grams and a digital scale, according to the complaint. There was $11,200 in cash in the house, including $50 in money that had been spent by the police informant to buy drugs from Delaney. A 9 mm Smith & Wesson Shield handgun also was found in the house. Delaney had another $2,700 on him when he was arrested. Another digital scale and paraphernalia used to package drugs were found in his car. Delaney allegedly admitted to Walker "that he purchases upwards to 500 to 1000 grams of fentanyl at a time and upwards of a kilogram of cocaine at a time from his drug supplier," according to the complaint. "Delaney admitted to using a process to cook the powder cocaine into crack cocaine and also using powder sugar as a cutting agent to mix with his fentanyl." Delaney also allegedly admitted he sold illegal drugs in Lorain County, that the drugs and the gun found in the house belonged to him, and that he had the handgun "because he is a drug dealer and stated that there is a possibility of being robbed due to his drug trafficking activities," Walker wrote. Delaney is a convicted felon and is not allowed to own or possess any guns due to prior robbery and drug trafficking convictions in Lorain County Common Pleas Court. He has been on parole since Dec. 23, 2020, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Federal prosecutors said the case is part of Operation Synthetic Opioid Surge, or SOS, which seeks to reduce the supply of synthetic opioids and identify distribution networks and international and domestic suppliers in Lorain County. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com or on Twitter @daveobrienCT.