'Inexcusable': Ex-Highland Heights City Council member sentenced for meth trafficking
A former Highland Heights City Council member who admitted dealing drugs while in office has been ordered to serve time behind bars.
Edward Fessler, 44, was sentenced on Tuesday to five years in prison, according to his lawyer, Tanner Duncan.
The sentence, handed down by Campbell County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Zalla, matches a recommendation from prosecutors. It comes after Fessler pleaded guilty in August to trafficking in methamphetamine, possession of LSD and possession of drug paraphernalia.
As part of his plea and because he lacks a prior criminal history, prosecutors agreed to drop a count of trafficking in psilocybin, more commonly known as psychedelic mushrooms.
"Mr. Fessler has taken responsibility for his actions and the pain he has caused his community. While there are substance abuse issues underlying his case, there is no question his actions were inexcusable," Duncan said in a statement to The Enquirer. "He has been in drug treatment since the outset of this case but he acknowledges the healing process has only just begun for both himself and the community."
The police investigation into Fessler began when an associate of his was arrested on a drug trafficking charge during a January traffic stop on Interstate 471, according to the application for a search warrant for Fessler’s home.
That associate, 53-year-old Bobby Jacob, had his cellphone seized and searched by police, who found texts in which someone named Edd was trying to get crystal meth from Jacob, the document says.
Jacob was later interviewed by agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force and positively identified Fessler as Edd, according to the document.
During the interview, Jacob told the agents he’d received crystal meth from Fessler in the past, but most recently it had been Fessler getting the drugs from him.
He said Fessler was “very proud to be a council member and would brag about it,” an agent’s account of the conversation reads.
Fessler was arrested on Feb. 21 after authorities searched his Linet Avenue home. During that search, agents found over 2 grams of methamphetamine, two firearms, marijuana, LSD and psychedelic mushrooms, according to a criminal citation.
He told agents that he would sell around a half-gram of crystal meth "a week to every other week" to two people, the citation states, and would buy a quarter-ounce of the drug every week.
At the time of his arrest in February, Fessler was a first-term council member. He resigned from the city council in April, three weeks after his fellow council members charged him with misconduct and began the process of removing him from office.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Edward Fessler: Ex-Highland Heights Council member gets prison time
