DRUG PROBE BRINGS CHARGES

Police: Middletown Ring Plotted To Kill FBI Agent

HAMILTON - A Middletown drug ring that injected Butler and Warren
counties with $50 million to $100 million a year in illicit drugs
from Mexico was so protective of its trade that members planned to
kill a local FBI agent and paid for the killing of an alleged snitch.

That was the story that unraveled Tuesday as local and federal
authorities announced the final arrests in a complicated, two-year
investigation that started with a small undercover cocaine buy in
Springboro and led agents to the Mexican border in Arizona and Texas.

Altogether, 15 men are in custody here and in Texas, most charged at
the federal level with trafficking in crystal methamphetamine,
cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy and a variety of prescription pills.

Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper released the latest indictments
against seven men on charges involving the drug trafficking operation
and the slaying of Jeff Thomas. The Monroe man was found shot to
death in a wooded area in Dayton on Aug. 26, 2003.

The Warren County Drug Task Force, which started the investigation,
collaborated with the FBI in three regions as the probe crossed state
borders and into Mexico.

"These aren't the guys out on the corner. These are the guys that are
going down to Mexico, to Arizona, driving, flying back here with
large amounts of drugs," Piper said. "These are the kind of people
that are in your community and my community, but they are making
millions of dollars selling drugs."

Those who face charges in Butler County include:

Schawn Little, 28, of Middletown, on kidnapping and aggravated murder
charges with a death-penalty specification. He allegedly lured Thomas
to Dayton to be killed, police said.

Kevin "K.D." Hubbard, 28, of Middletown, on kidnapping, aggravated
murder with a death-penalty specification, a weapons charge, and
conspiracy to commit aggravated murder charges. Police said he shot Thomas.

Justin "Dino" Bach, 29, of Arizona, on a conspiracy to commit
aggravated murder charge.

David Gibbs, 22, of Middletown, on a money laundering charge.

Matthew Gentry, 28, of Middletown, on engaging in a pattern of
corrupt activity and money laundering charges.

Harold Napier, 31, of Middletown, on engaging in a pattern of corrupt
activity and money laundering charges.

Paul David Lawwill, 32, of Moraine, on conspiracy to commit
aggravated murder and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity charges.

Bach, Napier and Lawwill, who police said was the kingpin of the drug
ring, were arrested in January 2004 on federal charges following a
raid on eight houses in Butler, Montgomery and Warren counties.

The raid included a residence that belonged to Lawwill's grandfather
in Warren County's Harlan Township, where police seized hundreds of
pounds of marijuana, large amounts of ecstasy, crystal
methamphetamine and prescription pills. Lawwill was arrested with
$585,000 in cash, said drug task force commander John Burke.

Lawwill and Bach allegedly planned the hit on Thomas, then hired
Hubbard to kill Thomas for $40,000. Hubbard shared the money with
Little, who was friends with Thomas and lured him to Dayton, Burke
said. Napier, Gentry and Gibbs are accused of participating in
payments for the homicide.

Burke would not comment on Thomas' involvement in the drug
investigation, but said that Thomas was detained by the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration at the Phoenix airport in January 2003.

He was not charged, but agents confiscated $60,000 in cash at the
time. Thomas also avoided charges in June 2003, when local
authorities searched his home and confiscated drugs, a gun and
$40,000 in cash. Another member of the group, William Dale Slaton,
pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill a federal agent. He was
sentenced to 42 months in prison and five years probation last month.

Federal court documents show that he discussed killing Cincinnati FBI
agent Pete Lakes by either bombing the agent's car or house, or
disguising himself as a pizza delivery man and delivering the bomb at
Lakes' residence. Lakes had been involved in the search of Slaton's
Middletown residence, where agents seized eight pounds of marijuana
belonging to Slaton's father.

Federal authorities caught wind of the plan and arrested Slaton
before he could carry it out.

"It was retribution for disrupting their drug activity," Cincinnati
FBI spokesman Michael Brooks said.