NAPOLEON — Charges are pending in separate courts here against a Liberty Center couple implicated in the sale of a large amount of fentanyl. Kage Seals, 26, is charged in Henry County Common Pleas Court with engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound and trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound, each a first-degree felony.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges — returned in a sealed indictment filed by a county grand jury on Feb. 28 — and his case is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on April 17 in common pleas court. He was being held Tuesday in the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio (CCNO) on a $300,000 bond.
His wife, Abbigail Barnes, 27, is charged in Napoleon Municipal Court with trafficking in drugs, a first-degree felony; and endangering children, a first-degree misdemeanor.
She is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing at 1 p.m. on April 4 in municipal court to determine if there is probable cause to detain her on the felony charge.
Barnes also was being held Tuesday in CCNO, bond having been set at $350,000 with a 10% allowance provision.
The charges stem from a drug bust on March 4 in Liberty Center involving the Henry County Sheriff’s Office, the DEA, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) and the Multi-Area Narcotics Unit, based in Defiance and composed of law enforcement officers from several local law enforcement agencies.
A press release issued by the Henry County Sheriff’s Office noted that Seals was arrested on March 4 following the execution of a search warrant at his residence in Liberty Center. (His address and Barnes’ is listed in court filings as 702 East St.)
The release noted that more than 1,000 pills suspected to be fentanyl were confiscated along with a loaded semi-auto pistol, cash and two vehicles used by Seals.
“They’re fake percocets made to look like percocet, but they actually contain fentanyl,” said the MAN Unit’s director, Steven Mueller. “... He (Seals) was a major drug trafficker in Liberty Center.”
Mueller called the investigation and drug bust in Liberty Center “a great cooperative effort” among the MAN Unit, the sheriff’s office, BCI, DEA and the Henry County Prosecutor’s Office.
Mueller described the amount of fentanyl confiscated as “significant,” and said the drug — which can prove deadly in even small amounts — is still popular among users. He said methamphetamine and fentanyl are two of the most prominent narcotics used locally, and on any week “one could take the top spot” in terms of popularity.
Henry County Prosecutor Gwen Howe-Gebers told The Crescent-News Tuesday that the investigation is continuing while Mueller noted the possibility of charges against additional defendants.
(One of those defendants is Wyatt Whalen, 22, Defiance, who made an appearance Tuesday in Napoleon Municipal Court on a charge of complicity to trafficking in drugs, a first-degree felony, and his case was scheduled for a preliminary hearing today. Bond was set at $300,000.)
Seals’ arrest last week wasn’t his first brush with law enforcement on a serious felony offense. In fact, he already was subject to terms of “community control” from his conviction in Defiance County Common Pleas Court in 2020 on a charge of aggravated arson, a second-degree felony.
He was sentenced to a four-year prison term in that case for his involvement in setting fire to a home at 04699 Domersville Road, but granted early judicial release after serving approximately seven months.
In that case, Seals had been charged as a co-defendant to a person to whom he owed money and wanted the home torched.
The residence was severely damaged, but no one was home at the time.
Seals’ co-defendant received a five-year prison term.
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