A Summit County judge on Friday sentenced 63-year-old Edward Hanserd to 11 to 16.5 years in prison after a 2023 traffic stop on Interstate 80 turned up 508 grams of cocaine and roughly two pounds of marijuana. Hanserd was convicted of possession of cocaine, a first-degree felony with a major-drug-offender specification, according to court records and reporting. Prosecutors said the sheer weight of the drugs pushed the case into Ohio’s most serious trafficking penalty range.
Traffic stop and seizure
Troopers stopped Hanserd’s vehicle on Feb. 21, 2023, on the Ohio Turnpike for a following-too-close violation and noted what they described as criminal indicators. A patrol canine alerted, and a probable-cause search uncovered 508 grams of cocaine and about two pounds of marijuana, according to an Ohio State Highway Patrol press release.
The Patrol estimated the drugs’ value at roughly $45,775 and identified the driver as Edward L. Hanserd, who was booked into the Summit County Jail on first-degree charges, the release said. The agency also released photos of the seized contraband alongside its statement.
Conviction and sentence
Hanserd was indicted in 2023 on multiple charges and was found guilty this spring of possession of cocaine with a major-drug-offender specification. He was then sentenced in Summit County Common Pleas Court to 11 to 16.5 years in prison, as reported by Cleveland.com.
Summit County Prosecutor Elliot Kolkovich praised the work of troopers and investigators, saying that “with their diligence, they were able to get a trafficker of deadly drugs off our streets,” according to the reporting. The term includes both a minimum and maximum under Ohio’s sentencing framework tied to the statutory major-drug-offender specification…