COLUMBUS, Ohio – The leader of an Ohio drug ring the government says moved more than $1 million in heroin a year has been sentenced to life in prison.
U.S. District Court Judge James Graham sentenced 55-year-old Ronald Kelsor to the mandatory life sentence with no parole eligibility on Wednesday.
Graham said Kelsor had one of the worst criminal records he's seen as a judge.
Kelsor's attorney, Frederick Benton, argued that the sentence was unfair compared to lesser sentences given some of Kelsor's co-defendants.
Kelsor was convicted in August of orchestrating an operation of nearly three dozen people moving heroin from central Ohio down U.S. Route 33 into Appalachia.
The Justice Department says Columbus has developed into a regional hub for Mexican heroin supplied to Ohio, West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox