CINCINNATI - Federal agents spent a half hour drilling into a safe found inside a Roselawn business and arrested four people Wednesday.
They served search warrants at Roselawn Auto Care and two other locations, telling WCPO they were searching for items tied to gun violence in the city.
One employee at Roselawn Auto Care said he was working on a car about 1 p.m. when all of a sudden the place was swarming with agents from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
ATF and CPD try to open safe during search warrant execution at Roselawn Auto Care. @wcpo pic.twitter.com/qySn6sDA9A
— Tom Mckee WCPO (@TMckeeWCPO) April 11, 2017
We’re told this was a continuation of a targeted enforcement operation that began in January.
Agents loaded several boxes of what looked like paper files into the back seat of a truck. They opened a small cube safe that they located inside the building. But they spent much of their time getting into a larger safe to check for evidence.
They brought in a locksmith for advice, then went to work drilling a hole in the back so a small camera could be inserted.
After more than a half hour, they put the safe back inside the building and then left to execute another warrant.
At the end of the day, agents had made four arrests:
- Ricardo Mitchell, owner of Roselawn Auto Care, charged with having weapons under disability and trafficking in drugs. Agents said a search of the business discovered a loaded 9mm Smith & Wesson and more than 1 kilo (but less than 5 kilos) of marijuana packaged for sale.
- Damondo Black, charged with having a weapon under disability.
- Warrrington Green, Sr., charged with trafficking in drugs, drug abuse and possession of drug paraphernalia.
- Marcus Lovett, charged with trafficking in drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia.
