Feds: Owner of exotic fish business blamed large drug-dealing operation on PTSD

A man who used an exotic fish business in Middletown as a front to distribute as much as 4.5 kilos of methamphetamine and 13 kilos of marijuana blamed his drug dealing on post-traumatic stress disorder he said was triggered by a 2017 robbery, according to court documents.

Because of that robbery at his Middletown home, Timothy Ray Adkins said he owed "a drug debt to his Chicago source of supply," the documents say. Adkins, 36, claimed the debt forced him to sell more drugs, according to prosecutors.

But prosecutors said they don't believe any money was taken during the December 2017 incident.

"It is only now, with Adkins facing a significant sentence in this case, that he claims he was distributing narcotics because he was under duress for a drug debt," prosecutors said in documents filed in advance of Adkins sentencing this week.

Prosecutors noted that after the robbery, Adkins moved "only a few blocks" from that home to another home, where he continued to sell drugs and even set up a marijuana grow operation.

U.S. District Judge Douglas Cole on Wednesday sentenced Adkins to 12½ years in prison. Adkins also will be supervised by authorities for five years after his release from prison.

Adkins' business, which has since closed, was called Fish Crazy & Exotics. Adkins, who pleaded guilty last year to multiple drug and gun charges, directed the delivery of narcotics from his supply source in Chicago to the business, which was located on Central Avenue in Middletown. It also had a website as well as Facebook and Instagram pages.

In addition to the kilos of methamphetamine and marijuana, court documents say Adkins possessed 28 grams of a heroin-fentanyl mixture.

Prosecutors said Adkins stored guns and ammunition in his home, including a Remington 9mm pistol with a laser light mounted to it. He was charged in March 2020. Two months later, while living with his grandparents and being monitored electronically by federal officials, he continued to distribute methamphetamine, prosecutors said. Officials said Adkins, who previously has been convicted of trafficking in cocaine, possessed a gun and ammunition at his grandparents' home.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Feds: Owner of exotic fish shop blamed drug-dealing operation on PTSD