Paris Foster, right, attends a bond hearing Monday with his attorney, and his bond was reduced to $150,000.
Charlotte Caldwell | The Lima News
LIMA — A Lima man facing drug possession charges had his bond reduced from $250,000 to $150,000 Monday in the Allen County Common Pleas Court.
Paris Foster’s attorney, Zachary Maisch, wanted Foster’s bond reduced to $10,000.
“The defendant is indigent and lacks the financial resources to post such a high bond. The instant offenses are mid-level felonies, none of which involve a mandatory prison sentence. He has also appeared at all prior court dates,” Maisch wrote Sept. 9 in a motion to reduce bond.
Allen County Assistant Prosecutor Colleen Limerick wanted Foster’s bond to remain the same because she said Foster recently violated bond by consistently testing positive for marijuana. She also said Foster is a multi-state offender with cases in Montgomery and Miami counties and a 23-year criminal history.
The charges come from an incident on Feb. 1. According to court documents, Lima police officers conducted a traffic stop on Foster, 31, and observed a large bag of suspected fentanyl under Foster’s seat and proceeded to conduct a search of the vehicle. The drugs were field tested and confirmed the bag contained approximately 28 grams of fentanyl.
“Paris has prior convictions for agg possession of drugs and CCW (carrying a concealed weapon). Paris has a history of fleeing from law enforcement and is considered a danger to the public,” wrote Investigator Aaron Montgomery of the Lima Police Department and the West Central Ohio Crime Task Force in a statement provided in court documents.
In Lima resident Kyle Smith’s jury trial in August dealing with drug possession and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, testimony claimed Foster was seen interacting with Smith outside of Smith’s trailer. Foster was known to the task force for trafficking drugs from Dayton.
Foster’s name was also found on Smith’s handwritten ledger with names and what they owed him for drugs.
Foster was indicted in March on a first-degree felony charge of possession of a fentanyl-related compound and a third-degree felony charge of aggravated possession of drugs for having methamphetamine along with a specification to forfeit $904. Then a superseding indictment was filed in April which changed the charges to possession of cocaine, a fourth-degree felony, the same drug possession charge and a reduced fentanyl possession charge to a third-degree felony with the same specification.
A motion to suppress the stop and search of Foster’s vehicle was previously filed by Maisch in an attempt to exclude the evidence found in the search from proceedings, but Judge Terri Kohlrieser overruled it.
Reach Charlotte Caldwell at 567-242-0451.
