May 23—LIMA — The trial of Jaquaveius Harvey, charged with multiple drug possession and trafficking counts, proved to be a one-day affair in Allen County Common Pleas Court.

The Lima man was scheduled for a jury trial but on Monday morning opted to have his case heard by Judge Terri Kohlrieser.

After a day of testimony from a confidential informant, who detailed several drug purchases from Harvey, and West Central Ohio Crime Task Force Investigator Aaron Montgomery, who orchestrated and oversaw those controlled buys, Kohlrieser found Harvey guilty of all charges.

Those charges included three counts of trafficking in heroin and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, each felonies of the first degree, a third-degree felony count of trafficking in heroin in a 2020 case and third-degree felony charges of obstructing justice, tampering with evidence, possession of a fentanyl-related compound, possession of heroin and having weapons under disability in a case in 2020.

Montgomery testified that controlled buys were executed on Feb. 19, 2020, on Rosedale Avenue; Feb. 24, 2020, in the 500 block of West Wayne Street; Feb. 27, 2020, at the corner of Tremont Avenue and Baxter Street; and March 2, 2020, in the 800 block of Broadway Street.

In each of the transactions, he said, the confidential informant was dispatched to purchase heroin from Harvey. While the first purchase was found by experts at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation to contain approximately 9 grams of heroin, the three remaining buys — each of which was to be for 15 grams of heroin at a cost of $1,200 each — were found to contain "no controlled substance," according to the agency's reports.

Ohio trafficking laws prohibit the selling or offering for sale of narcotic drugs or a controlled substance analog.

In a recording of a telephone call placed by Harvey from the Allen County jail to the confidential informant in the case, the Lima man can be heard saying "you know my drugs are fake."

Harvey, 30, will be sentenced June 7.