Tomei gets 20 years in prison on drug charges

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Nicholas Tomei of Mountain Home was given 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to a number of drug-related charges against him during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.

The 38-year-old Tomei was facing charges in three open cases, all filed last year. One involved the arrest of a person in possession of almost 100 grams of methamphetamine. The person told investigators the drug had been “fronted” by Tomei who would be paid after the person sold the drug.

The person involved in that arrest agreed to cooperate with law enforcement and another drug buy was arranged for October 24th last year. The informant was wired with a small audio recorder/transmitter and met with Tomei and a female described as his girlfriend and later identified as Kaitlyn Johnston, at a location in rural Baxter County where the drug deal was completed.

The informant said that after the purchase, Tomei and Johnston left the scene in a black Cadillac.

When officers stopped the car that was being driven by Johnson, they noted the presence of what turned out to be powdered methamphetamine on various parts of the car as well as on Tomei’s person. Tomei is alleged to have told investigators that when he realized he was being pursued by law officers, he attempted to throw the drug out of the passenger’s side window of the moving car as Johnston drove down the highway, but the powdery substance kept blowing back into the vehicle.

Officers recovered drugs and drug paraphernalia as well as almost $8,000 in cash in addition to the $1,000 in “drug buy money” provided to the confidential informant to make the methamphetamine purchase from Tomei.

An attempt by Tomei to have evidence suppressed in another one of his cases failed when Judge Gordon Webb ruled against him following a hearing in January. That case involved the February 29, 2016 search of a home along Wade Street where Tomei and Johnston were reported to be living and in which 62 grams of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, a pay-owe-ledger and three active cell phones were reported among the items seized.

In addition to the criminal charges against Tomei, the state had filed civil suits asking that a number of items, including cash and vehicles, be forfeited to the state.

Johnston has indicated she wants to go to trial and fight the charges against her.

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