Crime & Safety

Lakewood Apartment Used as Suspected Drug 'Stash House'

Eight people indicted Thursday in a federal heroin trafficking operation.

On Thursday, a federal grand jury indicted eight people — on a total of 47 counts — accused of taking part in a massive heroin trafficking ring that brought drugs into Northeast Ohio and stored them in a Lakewood apartment.

Addonnise Wells, 28, and Mario Freeman, 27, are accused of using an apartment at 11843 Edgewater Drive as a “stash house” for their heroin before dealing it from homes on Cleveland’s east side.

According to a statement from the US Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, the men then laundered the profits through numerous bank accounts and the purchase of more than 50 luxury automobiles.

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Freeman — and others charged Thursday — laundered drug profits through Jimmie Goodgame and his wife, Stacey Goodgame, primarily through the purchase of luxury automobiles titled to companies owned by the Goodgames, according to the indictment.

The Goodgames deposited more than $1.5 million in cash into accounts he controlled between 2008 and 2010, according to the indictment. They had more than 50 automobiles titled to their three companies in 2010, including multiple Range Rovers, Porsches, Audis, Cadillacs, Mercedes Benzs, BMWs and a Maserati, among other vehicles. The cars were actually driven and controlled by drug dealers, according to the indictment.

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The allegations detailed in the indictment stretch from March 2007 through February 2011.

“This case shows the nexus between drugs and money,” said Steven Dettelbach, US Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. “Drug dealers can’t walk into their neighborhood bank and deposit their ill-gotten cash. It’s crucial to choke off the avenues they use to hide their money.

Those charged in the indictment are: Wells, 28, of South Euclid; Freeman, 27, of Garfield Heights; Jimmie Goodgame, 41, of Solon; James Jones, 28, of Cleveland; John R. Toone III, 60, of Columbus; Stacy Goodgame, 40, of Reminderville; Dimitris Terry, 39, of Westmont, Illinois; Aaron Phillips, 28, of Hartville.

Wells and Freeman are charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin. Wells supplied Freeman with heroin, and the two men used 505 and 507 East 125th Street and 475 East 127th Street, Cleveland, as distribution centers.

Freeman and Wells also are also accused of engaging in counter-surveillance measures designed to evade law enforcement, according to the indictment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward F. Feran following an investigation by the Northern Ohio Law Enforcement Task Force, the FBI, IRS, Cleveland Police Department, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area agents and Hotel Interdiction Team Task Force.


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