A Franklin County Grand Jury has indicted six people accused of operating a million-dollar, multi-state drug trafficking organization that allegedly moved significant amounts of cocaine and marijuana while laundering the earnings through businesses and family members.
Tesfai Kifle, Clarence Brooks, Rhonda Glover, Jeffrey Skipper, Awet Gebremariam, and Mahawi Gebremariam were all indicted on February 10.
They face charges for engaging in a pattern of corruption, drug trafficking, drug possession, money laundering, submitting incomplete, false, or fraudulent tax returns, and receiving stolen property. Except for Kifle, the defendants face guns charges as well as forfeiture stipulations.
Investigators say Kifle ran a multiyear plan and failed to file tax returns for himself or his firms from 2018 to 2024.
The investigation began in August 2024, when the Columbus Division of Police, in collaboration with the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission and a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task team, saw Kifle packing luggage into the cab of a semi-truck owned by a corporation he controlled.
When the semi, destined for another state, was stopped and inspected, investigators say they discovered $935,000 in cash in the luggage. The driver, a Kifle employee, eventually departed the country.
A 10-month inquiry ensued, resulting in the execution of six search warrants. Investigators confiscated more than $1 million in cash, seven weapons, 230 grams of cocaine, and over 100 pounds of suspected marijuana, 55 of which were tested.
Authorities also recovered two Rolex watches totaling more than $100,000 and five luxury purses. Prosecutors say real estate allegedly used to launder illegal earnings can also be forfeited through the office’s Nuisance Abatement Unit.
Kifle was arrested immediately after the indictment was returned and has pled not guilty. A judge first set his bond as $1 million surety, but it was later reduced to $150,000. He has recently been released from jail, with the condition that he surrender his passport.
The remaining defendants are awaiting arraignment.
The case is still under investigation.
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