Trial date set in synthetic drug trafficking case

Published 12:00 am Sunday, June 3, 2012

 

 

A trial date has been set for an Ashland, Ky., man arrested during a raid on a South Point business in January.

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Robert B. Holley, 45, of 316 Clay Hollow Road, was arraigned on four new counts of trafficking in drugs. He pleaded not guilty through his attorney, Umberto DeBeneditto, of Columbus.

He also signed a waiver of speedy trial in a previous case that is pending in common pleas court.

Judge D. Scott Bowling set bond at $50,000 cash, surety or property but allowed Holley to post 10 percent of that amount. Bowling also ordered that the two cases involving Holley be consolidated. He then set a July 30 trial date.

In a companion case, Joshua Tackett, 32, of 19000 W. Highway 60, Olive Hill, Ky., was arraigned on one count of possession of drugs. He pleaded not guilty through his attorney, W. Jeffrey Moore, of Columbus.

And like Holley, he also signed a waiver of speedy trial in connection with another case against him that is pending in common pleas court. Bowling allowed the bond posted in a lower court to continue and added a $20,000 own recognizance bond to it. Tackett must return to court Aug. 8 for a pretrial conference.

Both Holley and Tackett were arrested in January during a raid on The Counter Culture Shop in South Point, which Holley allegedly owns and Tackett allegedly manages.

The store was the target of a sheriff’s office and drug task force investigation into the alleged sale of synthetic marijuana and other analog compounds, the sale of which became illegal in October 2011 after the passage of House Bill 64.