Strongsville Man Gets 11 Years for Operating Marijuana Ring

A Strongsville man has been sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison for running a marijuana ring that stretched from here to Arizona.

Kevin L. Locastro, 36, was one of 16 people indicted in March 2010 for trafficking in marijuana and money laundering.

The investigation initially targeted local members of a marijuana trafficking ring that operated out of Strongsville and Cleveland, but ultimately uncovered a large--scale conspiracy to distribute marijuana that extended to Arizona and Mexico, Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said in a news release.

The investigation revealed that Locastro, who lived in Strongsville, and Joseph E. Salvano of Cleveland, along with Richard Hodges III of Akron, would arrange for large quantities of marijuana to be brought to Cleveland and Akron from the Arizona area on a monthly basis.

Locastro, Hodges, and Salvano would then sell the drugs to a number of people in Strongsville, Akron and Cleveland.

The investigation also revealed that Locastro would deposit the proceeds of the drug operation into bank accounts in northeast Ohio, and others would withdraw the money in Arizona to avoid currency transaction reporting requirements under both state and federal laws.

 Locastro also used either the U.S. mails or commercial carriers to ship drug proceeds from Ohio to Arizona.

The indictments followed  a one-year investigation code named “Scooby Snack.” The investigation included several wire taps on the cell phones of Locastro and Francisco Felix of Arizona.

The investigation was conducted by agents and task force officers of the Northern Ohio Law Enforcement Task Force (NOLETF), a long-standing multi-agency task force composed of investigators from the FBI,  Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS), Cleveland Division of Police (CPD), Cleveland Heights Police Department (CHPD), Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO), Euclid Police Department (EPD), Lake County Narcotics Agency, Regional Transit Authority (RTA) Police Department, Willoughby Hills Police Department, and Shaker Heights Police Department (SHPD).