Tri-State Heroin Supplier Faces 50 Years After Dearborn Co. Conviction

By Mike Perleberg John Marcell "Doughboy" Smith. Photo by Dearborn County Sheriff's Department. (Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - A man who prosecutors say was a major supplier of heroin in the Cincinnati region has been convicted in Dearborn County. At the culmination of a six day jury trial in Dearborn Superior Court II that ended Tuesday, a jury found John Marcell Smith, of Chicago, guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Dealing in a Narcotic Drug over Three Grams (Class A felony). Smith, who goes by a number of aliases including “Doughboy” and Tremmel Jackson, faces up to 50 years in prison when he is sentenced at a later date. Dearborn County Prosecutor Aaron Negangard credited Indiana State Police, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the FBI for aiding in the drug dealer’s conviction. “The evidence showed that this was a major supplier of heroin to the Cincinnati area trafficking several kilos of heroin from January to June in 2012.  Both state and federal law enforcement agencies worked together to bring this heroin supplier to justice and they should be commended for their excellent work in this case,” Negangard told Eagle Country 99.3 Tuesday. Smith, 36, had come on law enforcement’s radar in June of 2012 when Indiana State Police stopped a Chevrolet Impala on Interstate 74 in Dearborn County. During the stop, a trooper noticed something about the car’s driver side door panel. The panel was removed and three kilograms of heroin – an estimated value of $450,000 – were found hidden inside. The driver, Destanee Gaines, was placed under arrest. Gaines agreed to cooperate with state police. She told investigators that she had received the rented Impala from Smith and was driving from Chicago to Cincinnati to deliver the heroin to Aldob Webb, Jr. Police had the vehicle towed to an impound lot in Lawrenceburg. Under direction from police, Gaines placed a phone call to Webb to tell him she had been arrested for marijuana possession and where the car was impounded. Officers staked out at the impound lot. Webb eventually showed up and was taken into custody while attempting to remover the door panel where the heroin had been concealed. Webb then agreed to help police. He told state police detectives that he had ordered the heroin from Smith. Each time, Gaines was the driver transporting the drugs from Chicago to Cincinnati. Gaines told investigators that she was paid up to $1,500 each trip. Indiana State Police located a fingerprint on one of the seized packages of heroin. In February of 2014, lab testing determined that the fingerprint belonged to Smith. He was formally charged in Dearborn County two days after the fingerprint analysis was returned from the lab. Webb is currently serving a 15 year sentence in an Indiana prison following his conviction in 2014. Gaines is serving a 10 year sentence ordered in 2013. RELATED STORIES: Troopers Find $450K In Heroin, Make 3 Arrests