Smuggling Ring Brought 1,100 Pounds Of Cocaine Into OH: Indictment

CLEVELAND — A smuggling ring brought 1,100 pounds of cocaine into Northeast Ohio, according to a new indictment unsealed by the Department of Justice on Tuesday.

The three men named in the indictment are Christopher Ficklin, 49, from Cleveland Heights; Robert Atkinson, 41, from Cleveland; and David Gomez-Orrantia, 41, from Mexico. All three men are now in custody.

Starting around June 2020, Gomez-Orrantia and others started shipping cocaine from Mexico to a warehouse on Carnegie Avenue in Cleveland, the indictment said. The warehouse was controlled by Ficklin, the DOJ added.

Ficklin then gave the drugs to Atkinson and others to be distributed throughout the region, the indictment said.

To move the drugs throughout Northeast Ohio, members of the smuggling ring used trucks and car "fitted with traps and hidden compartments," the DOJ added. Once the drugs were delivered, money was sent back to Mexico aboard trucks with hidden compartments, the indictment said.

Throughout the life of the operation, the indictment said, more than 1,000 pounds of cocaine was sent into Northeast Ohio, while $13 million was shipped back to Mexico.

“Drug trafficking organizations target communities like Cleveland because they mistakenly assume nobody is paying attention,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Michelle M. Baeppler. “To those drug traffickers, both foreign and domestic, who think that our communities and neighborhoods here in Northern Ohio are open for your businesses – know that we are watching, we are paying attention, we will act and we will not stand for it.”

The investigation into the cocaine ring was led by members of the DEA, Cleveland Heights Police Department, Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office and the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

“Thanks to the professionalism and diligence of the agents and officers working this case, we have disrupted an organization that coordinated not only the delivery of significant amounts of cocaine into Cleveland, but the delivery of drug proceeds into the hands of their Mexican source of supply,” said Kent R. Kleinschmidt, acting special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Detroit Field Division.

Ficklin, Atkinson and Gomez-Orrantia face charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. They also face charges of possession with intent to distribute, distribution of cocaine, interstate travel in aid of racketeering, international money laundering and use of a communications facility to facilitate a felony drug offense. Ficklin also faces a weapons-related charge.

“These arrests are a testament to the coordinated efforts between state, local and federal law enforcement. We will continue to maximize all of our combined resources to bring those who traffic drugs into our communities to justice," Kleinschmidt said.