Ashville man gets 22½ years in federal prison for drug and gun operation run from Hilliard hotel

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An Ashville man will spend more than two decades in federal prison for running a drug operation out of a Hilliard hotel room, where investigators found kilograms of narcotics, 18 firearms and nearly $40,000 in cash.

Samuel A. Griffith, 35, of Ashville, was sentenced Oct. 6 in U.S. District Court in Columbus to 270 months in prison, 22 years and six months, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio.

According to court documents, Griffith sold fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine from a room at the Red Roof Inn in Hilliard in October 2025. When agents executed a search warrant on the room, they found more than four kilograms of methamphetamine, more than a kilogram of fentanyl, a partial kilogram of cocaine, numerous firearms and nearly $40,000 in cash.

Griffith pleaded guilty in April to six federal drug and gun crimes, including distribution of methamphetamine and fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine, and illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

His record made the guns illegal on their own. Griffith has prior felony convictions for robbery, aggravated possession of drugs and having weapons under disability, and federal law bars him from possessing firearms or ammunition.

U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson imposed the sentence. The case was announced by U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II, ATF Special Agent in Charge Jorge Rosendo, Fairfield County Sheriff Alex Lape, Ohio State Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Charles A. Jones and Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant.

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