Ron Welch
Muskingum County Prosecutor
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Repeat drug offender charged for hiding drugs on children
Detectives with the Zanesville / Muskingum County Joint Drug Unit and the CODE Task Force arrested a repeat drug offender Monday afternoon for her latest criminal activity, this time involving children. Initial charges filed against Victoria “Vic” Barrientos included engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, trafficking in fentanyl and money laundering.
Barrientos made her initial appearance in Zanesville Municipal Court Wednesday morning where bond was reduced from $750,000 to $500,000. Following the hearing, prosecutors filed additional charges of endangering children, corrupting a child with drugs, trafficking in drugs within a school zone, and possession of drugs pertaining to her arrest. The Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office requested a bond of $1 million for the latest counts.
These crimes occurred shortly after Barrientos was released from prison for a separate crime of money laundering for her boyfriend, Deangelo “D-Lo” Tellis, who is currently serving a 15 year sentence for engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and narcotics trafficking. Detectives in this most recent case followed Barrientos’ latest operation for almost a year and have observed the gradual reintroduction of her boyfriend’s Columbus-based associates to the Muskingum County area.
At the time of her arrest, Barrientos was traveling to Zanesville in an attempt to regain custody of one of her children. Children’s Services arrived at the stop because Barrientos had other children with her who needed to be placed in proper care. While sorting through the children’s care items, caseworkers found a large quantity of suspected suboxone strips which had been individually bagged for distribution. Suboxone is a street drug of abuse marketed by pharmaceutical companies as an alternative to opiates. The drugs planted on the child have an estimated prison value of $30,000.
One component of Ohio’s engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity offense is that instances of future criminality can be aggregated – or combined – with previous criminal conduct, even if the person has already served their sentence for the previous conduct. Under Ohio law, Barrientos’s previous convictions for money laundering can be used in conjunction with her new crimes to further demonstrate the pattern of corrupt activities.
In the spring of 2022, the Prosecutor’s office negotiated a plea agreement for Barrientos to serve four and one-half years in prison, but ultimately she was sentenced to just 18 months. Barrientos faces more than 30 years in prison upon conviction for the new crimes.
All persons are presumed innocent until they are found guilty by a jury of Muskingum County residents.
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