Three of the seven were
sentenced to prison.
WARREN — The seventh and final defendant in a central Trumbull County
drug ring called "Operation Green Tree" has been sentenced to five years of
intensive supervised probation.
Robert Zadai, 27, of Shafer Road, Champion, was the first of the seven to
accept a plea agreement in January. He pleaded guilty to two counts of
trafficking in marijuana with provisions for forfeiting a vehicle and one
count of attempting to engage in a pattern of corrupt activity.
Chuck Morrow, an assistant county prosecutor, said he had originally
recommended that Zadai receive one year in prison, but new evidence surfaced
that caused him to agree to not oppose probation.
The Trumbull, Ashtabula, Geauga Counties Law Enforcement Task Force
caught Zadai selling more than 400 grams (14 ounces) of suspected marijuana
at the Elm Road Giant Eagle in Warren on Feb. 28, 2005, and again at a
location on Hoagland-Blackstub Road on March 8, 2005.
Zadai could have gotten as much as eight years in prison on the three
felonies.
Sgt. Jeff Orr, commander of TAG, said Zadai lived with one of the other
defendants, Lisa Boone, 29, who was also convicted in the enterprise. Boone
is the daughter of another person convicted in the ring, Sharon Boone of
Pierce Road, Champion, and the sister of another participant, Robert Boone,
of the Pierce Road address.
Others involved
Others convicted in the case were Jason Washington, of Terra Alta Street,
Warren; Christopher Jibotian, North Park Avenue Extension, Bristolville; and
James Albaugh, Mason Street, Warren.
Washington received the longest prison sentence of those involved, 36
months, followed by Robert Boone, 30 months, and Albaugh, 18 months.
Like Zadai, Lisa Boone, Sharon Boone and Jibotian all received sentences
that included five years of probation and no prison time.
Charges against the seven were filed in late 2005 after a one-year TAG
investigation.
Investigators dubbed the investigation Operation Green Tree because
during the probe, task force members determined that they were interrupting
small criminal groups, or branches, with multiple ties to one family — the
Boones.
During the investigation, eight locations were searched in Champion,
Warren, Niles and Cortland. Using search warrants, police seized cash,
vehicles, homes, a boat and other items. Some of those items were forfeited
to the court, which divided up the assets with 75 percent going to TAG to
fund its operations and 25 percent to the county prosecutor's office.
The operation began with Champion police when they began receiving
anonymous tips about drug trafficking.
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