A total of 16 individuals were charged in September 2020 in connection with a meth ring run out of a Grand Valley property known by investigators as “The Farm.”

The first of those 16 has pleaded guilty in federal court.

Charles J. Vanderhoof, 38, Akron, Ohio, entered a plea Friday to a charge of violating federal drug laws, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.

The statement explained that the operation ran from June 2018 until Feb. 2020 and that “the defendants conspired to possess with intent to distribute and distributed five hundred grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine as they participated in a methamphetamine distribution network that trafficked methamphetamine from Akron, Ohio and Erie, Pennsylvania into Crawford, Venango and Warren Counties.”

According to a federal court document outlining the plea, prosecutors express their intent to agree that Vanderhoof “was not an organizer, leader, manager or supervisor of others in the offense” and has “provided government all information he has concerning the offense to which he has pleaded guilty….”

The sentence outlined in that document is not less than 10 years in prison up to life behind bars and fines not to exceed $10 million.

While the case is at the federal level, the investigation started locally.

Back when the indictment was unsealed, Warren County District Attorney Rob Greene said the case “originally… started with the Warren County Drug Task Force (who) had made drug buys from people that were coming from ‘The Farm.’ ‘The Farm’ was on our radar.”

“The Farm” refers to the Grand Valley location at 530 Hunter School Road.

Federal officials allege that Carina Tucker, Titusville, and Gail Flick, Garland, would drive to Akron, Ohio two to three times per week to pick up half a pound of methamphetamine. Warren County Sheriff Brian Zeybel, then the chief county detective, said Tucker and Flick would return through Erie and drop to Titusville — “they all called Titusville T-Vegas” — and the meth “spiderwebbed” through the area to the end user.

Local officials provided federal investigators with “names, connections… flow charts of how this is working, all on the drug end,” Zeybel said. “That gave them the big picture where the gun was involved… and solidified (that) this is an operation, not someone selling a little bit of meth.”

Sentencing is scheduled for April 22 and the DOJ notes that the actual sentence will be “based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant. Pending sentencing, the court continued Vanderhoff on bond.”