An Ohio man and woman will now face prison time for their roles in a drug trafficking conspiracy that spanned from Texas to Ohio, using a storefront in Fairview Park as a lab, to manufacture illegal drugs soaked onto paper and smuggled into prisons.
Judge Dan Aaron Polster sentenced Thaer Mustafa, 41, of North Olmsted, to 120 months (10 years) in prison, and Elyssia Sanabria, 26, of LaGrange, Ohio, to 70 months (5.8 years) in prison, after they pleaded guilty in April to Conspiracy to Distribute Controlled Substances.
During a federal investigation into suspected illegal drug activity, Mustafa and Sanabria were identified for sourcing controlled substances to use in paper-soaking laboratories. During a search warrant executed at an apartment in Cleveland, agents caught Mustafa and Sanabria retrieving bags of cocaine and emptying the contents into the toilet. They also located powder, reams of soaking paper, and a gas mask…