A Columbus man allegedly sold one pound of methamphetamine to a law enforcement informant last year. The man claimed he is a drug dealer, but his business involves high-end marijuana sales, not narcotics.

Late Friday afternoon, a jury found 41 year-old Michel Yanni of Columbus guilty of one first-degree felony count of trafficking in drugs methamphetamine in an amount equal to or greater than 300 grams.

In a joint effort between the Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office, the Zanesville Police Department and the remaining agencies in the Central Ohio Drug Enforcement Task Force, Yanni became the target of a confidential informant operation. The operation targeted two people, the second being Terry Bocook.

• For more information on the arrests, click here.

On Oct. 30, 2018, the C.I., whose name is concealed for protection purposes, set up a “controlled buy” with Yanni. 

In this case, it was an exchange of $4,500 for one pound on meth.

“This is a buy bust. It is an open and closed case,” Assistant Prosecuting Attorney John Litle said.

A buy bust occurs when a C.I. sets up a drug deal — under law enforcement’s direction — with a trafficker. The C.I. takes cash that is recorded by authorities and trades the money for drugs. Law enforcement then immediately arrest the alleged dealer following the exchange.

Litle described Yanni as being at the level of dealing in his “profession” that would qualify him as a multi-kilo dealer, only beneath individuals involved in importing drugs and ultimately followed by the cartel at the top.

“You don’t get to this level of the game without being very smart,” Litle said.

The State stated that the C.I. involved in the case was a known drug dealer of both methamphetamine and cocaine. In an effort to shave some time off the 40-year prison sentence he was facing, the man opted to become a confidential informant.

Yanni had previously done business with the C.I., a man who Yanni would describe in his testimony as a “brother.”

On Oct. 30, 2018, the C.I. had set up a controlled buy with Yanni. The two were to meet at the Dollar General in Gratiot that evening. Ultimately, the State claimed the buy went down without conflict.

Yanni arrived first. He called the C.I. to tell him to hurry up. The C.I. arrived and climbed into Yanni’s car, handed him a lump of bills and asked where “it” was at. Yanni responded that it was in the trunk, to which the C.I. got out of the car, retrieved what nearby detectives described as a large white object, closed Yanni’s trunk and passenger door and returned to the vehicle provided to him by law enforcement.

Yanni then drove away heading west, the C.I. drove away heading east, and both men encountered law enforcement.

Detectives and officers followed Yanni and conducted a traffic stop and arrested him. Separate detectives followed the C.I. to a nearby gas station, relieved him of the drugs and recording equipment and returned to their headquarters.

During the trial, the defense did not dispute the events that occurred during and following the controlled buy. It was the events leading up to the meeting between Yanni and the C.I. that the defense disputed in front of the jury.

“This entire crime was conceived and hatched by the informant,” Samuel Shamansky, Yanni’s lead defense attorney, stated.

Prior to Yanni meeting up with the C.I., the defense, via Yanni’s testimony, claimed that Yanni had given the C.I. a large amount of high-end marijuana to sell as the two had been in business together for quite some time.

Allegedly, the C.I. owed Yanni $4,000 from the last deal they had together, but Yanni claimed he still provided the C.I. with six pounds of high-end marijuana — that he stated was worth $3,000 per pound — as the C.I. was one of the people he referred to as business partners.

“People I trusted with thousands of dollars of merchandise,” Yanni said while testifying. “[The C.I.] is definitely one of those people that I trusted with thousands of dollars of merchandise.”

The two were allegedly meeting up in Gratiot the evening of Oct. 30 in order for the C.I. to give Yanni a portion of the money he owed the defendant. Prior to the two meeting, the defense claimed the C.I. called Yanni requesting he pick up a box from the C.I.’s hotel room and bring it to the meeting place.

Yanni agreed and claimed he had no idea what was inside the box, which he later discovered was one pound of meth.

“Do you deal meth with him [the C.I.],” Shamansky asked Yanni.

“Absolutely not,” Yanni responded while testifying.

“Do you deal meth at all,” Shamansky asked Yanni.

“Absolutely not,” Yanni responded while testifying.

Yanni admitted repeatedly that he is a dealer but does not sell meth.

During closing arguments, Litle gave an example of a drug user getting caught with meth in their pants. In this scenario, the suspect would tell police their pants belong to a drug-using cousin, not the person actually wearing the clothes. If the suspect knew there was meth in the pockets, they claim they would have used it. 

He went on to describe Yanni’s claim to being a drug dealer, just not a dealer of meth “the drug dealer’s version of they’re not my pants.”

“It’s not the State’s job to come forward and disprove someone’s nonsense story,” Litle said.

Shamansky requested repeatedly that the jury look at the evidence presented, as he stated there wasn’t much aside from a one pound lump of meth.

“Yanni is innocent in dealing methamphetamine. He may be guilty as hell in selling reefer, but he is innocent in dealing methamphetamine,” Shamansky said. “This is a set up, a stinking filthy set up.”

The jury ultimately concluded that the State’s evidence did prove Yanni was guilty of trafficking in methamphetamine and the quantity was greater than 300 grams, which allowed the court to deem Yanni a major drug offender.

Yanni is facing a mandatory 11 years in prison at sentencing.

“We’re very satisfied with the jury’s verdict,” Litle said. “The case was well defended, and defense counsel did an excellent job trying to poke holes where they could. But, in the end, I think … it was still a straightforward case. He got caught red-handed.”