By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com

A motion to suppress seemed more like a trial as it took up nearly a whole day in court Thursday – and one more witness is still to be called.

Thirty-nine-year-old Erin Lewis, of Bucyrus, has been charged with second degree felony drug possession. He allegedly possessed between 100 and 500 doses of heroin. Though Lewis was originally set for a two-day trial this week, his attorney James Mayer III submitted a motion a few days ago in Crawford County Common Pleas Court to suppress evidence in the case.

Five witnesses were called for the day: Captain Neil Assenheimer, Chief Dave Koepke, Adult Parole Authority officer Dan Wurm, Captain Joseph Greathouse, and K-9 Patrolman David Rowland.

Assenheimer’s investigation began in May of 2015 when a confidential informant, who was an eyewitness to the transaction, told officers that Lewis and Heather Hunt, his girlfriend at the time, were traveling to Columbus to purchase heroin that would later be sold in Crawford County. They would typically take Ohio 61 to avoid Ohio 4, the informant claimed.

On Aug. 7, a Bucyrus police officer sent out an internal email that Hunt was going to Columbus to purchase drugs.

On Oct. 8, a different confidential informant told police that Lewis and Hunt were making trips to Columbus to bring back heroin in Ashley Alspach’s car. The informant also alleged that Hunt was trading sex for money with Mexican drug cartel members.

An Ohio State Patrol officer pulled Alspach’s car over in early October for a traffic stop. Though Lewis was in the car, no narcotics were found.

On Oct. 11, a Bucyrus police officer said Alspach’s car was parked at Lewis’ and Hunt’s house and made a trip to Columbus.

An informant also alleged that Lewis kept the heroin on his person.

The incidents were enough for Assenheimer to fill out an affidavit for a search warrant that would allow him to place a GPS tracking system on Alspach’s 2004 green Pontiac. The tracking device was placed on the car on Oct. 23. The car was monitored until Oct. 29, a six-day period during which the vehicle made multiple trips south to Marion and Delaware.

Mayer admitted there was a clear association between Lewis, Hunt, and Alspach but Assenheimer conceded he could not say for sure if Lewis had been a part of the trips during that time period. Assenheimer also acknowledged that the information passed along to the police department never indicated Lewis had been going to Marion to purchase drugs, just to Columbus.

As police chief, Koepke monitored the situation and the data produced by the GPS system.

“It was driving around Bucyrus like a police patrol,” Koepke said on the activity during the week they monitored the car. “It was consistently making a trip south before coming back to Bucyrus.”

Koepke received a ping from the GPS software that the car was heading south on Oct. 29. He notified Greathouse and, with the car having about a 15-minute head start, they followed in an attempt to discover the end of the Pontiac’s trip.

The car took an unusual path to get to Columbus, Koepke testified. Finally, they followed the car onto U.S. 23 past Delaware before reaching Interstate 270. It was there that the car got off on to Schrock Road, an area familiar for drug carriers and Mexican cartel sources, Koepke said. According to the GPS, the car made brief stops at what Koepke and Greathouse believed were an apartment complex, a Speedway gas station, and a Moose hall. Each stop took five minutes or less. Within 30 minutes, Koepke said, they were heading north once again.

Though Koepke and Greathouse never saw the Pontiac at each of the locations, they did observe it when it stopped at the rest stop on U.S. 71 just north of the state capital. There they spotted Lewis and Alspach, who had been driving. The two continued to follow the Pontiac back to Bucyrus, notifying Lt. Tom Walker, Rowland, and Wurm along the way.

Koepke and Greathouse observed the car driving recklessly in Morrow County and speeding as it entered Bucyrus by Hopley Avenue. With those details in mind, Koepke requested that Walker stop the car once it entered city limits while Wurm asked for them to apprehend Alspach, who was on community control.

Koepke stated K-9 Rosco alerted to the odor of narcotics in the car. Despite a pat down of Lewis and Alspach and a search of the car, no drugs were found. He agreed with Greathouse that the search needed to be explored further and that a more intrusive search was needed for Lewis’ person after Walker noted Lewis’ suspicious behavior when he neared Lewis’ waist.

In a cross examination, Koepke admitted that he was unable to say if Lewis made the trip down to Columbus or if Alspach picked him up there. Though they were also unable to make a visual of the car at the apartments and no names or affiliations were named in the tips from the informants, Koepke stated that the area of Schrock Road and Cleveland Avenue has been a contact place between Crawford County and Columbus for two years.

Wurm testified that he requested Alspach to be held due to recent incidents while she was on community control. Alspach successfully completed the court’s Intensive Supervision and Treatment program but admitted to relapsing five to six times before the traffic stop incident. Wurm also received reports that Alspach had been running with the wrong crowd.

“That was of great concern to me,” Wurm said, admitting that he wanted Alspach in custody to prevent something like that from happening again.

Alspach was sentenced to prison in December for drug possession and violating her community control.

Under cross examination, Wurm said Alspach’s drug of choice was heroin and opiates.

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Greathouse attested to driving the vehicle as he and Koepke monitored the Pontiac’s movements on Oct. 29. He helped identify the suspects at the rest stop and estimated the speed at which the car was traveling as it entered Bucyrus.

When Greathouse stated that a car search and pat down resulted in no drugs being found, Mayer asked if there was the possibility that there were never any drugs.

“I believe the likelihood of finding narcotics was highly probable,” Greathouse said.

Rowland testified to assisting Walker in the traffic stop and having his K-9, Rosco sniff-check the vehicle for drugs. Rosco, who was used for 74 exterior sniffs in traffic stops during 2015, alerted to the smell of drugs on the driver’s door.

Mayer questioned Rowland on Rosco’s success rate of properly indicating for narcotics, supposing the possibility that K-9s correctly identified the presence of drugs 50 percent of the time.

Rowland responded that, during Rosco’s training, he was close to 100 percent and never gave a false indication. The handler admitted that there were many variables in the real world that he could not control for.

Judge Sean Leuthold recessed the hearing for the day after Rowland’s testimony. Walker is expected to take the stand Friday morning.