Suspected drug dealer arrested in Perkins Township hotel

PERKINS TWP. — Perkins police nabbed a suspected drug dealer Friday.Tyrone D. Alexander, 39, remains in custody at the Erie County jail this week on two felony counts of drug trafficking and one of tampering with evidence. Police caught him with approximately 10.8 grams of suspected fentanyl and 2.1 grams of crack cocaine in a hotel along U.S. 250, Perkins police Detective Joe Rotuno said.Alexander has two drug-related cases pending in the Erie County Court of Common Pleas, according to court records. The recent charges proved grounds to revoke his bond."He's been on our radar and on Sandusky's for several years," Rotuno said of Alexander, referring to the Sandusky Police Department. That agency assisted in Alexander's arrest.Perkins K-9 Thor, too, played a role in the arrest.Rotuno said police received the information that led to Alexander's arrest in a traffic stop earlier the same day. The stopped vehicle was leaving the hotel room where Alexander was staying."That's what led us to start doing some surveillance and figure out what's going on," he said.Alexander is believed to been selling cocaine and fentanyl out of the hotel room, Rotuno said. He is believed to have been working with others, some of whom were in or around the room while officers watched it. Rotuno said the investigation is ongoing and that no one else has yet been charged.Police sent the seized drugs to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation for identification, Rotuno said. Although Alexander told officers the suspected fentanyl is heroin, Rotuno said it did not test positive for heroin in a field test.Perkins and Sandusky police similarly worked together in investigating Alexander last year, Rotuno said. That led them to arrest Alexander in a Comfort Inn on U.S. 250. Rotuno said authorities seized 7.9 grams of cocaine and 1 gram of mixed cocaine and heroin at that time.Court records identify the following pending charges, each filed in 2016:• one count heroin possession• two counts cocaine possession• five counts of aggravated drug possession• two counts preparation of cocaine for saleErie County Common Pleas records indicate that Alexander has previously accepted plea deals in local drug-related cases filed in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2010.More from Perkins police Reach reporter Nicki Gorny at gorny@sanduskyregister.com and follow her on Twitter @Nicki_Gorny.Tyrone Alexander