Dayton man gets 71 months in Beverage Palace drug case

The second of two defendants federally charged with drug dealing stemming from last year’s shooting at the Beverage Palace in Miami Twp. was sentenced Thursday to nearly six years in prison.

Tyler Christian, 27, was sentenced to 71 months in Dayton’s U.S. District Court by Judge Thomas Rose for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. The sentence will run consecutive to a four-year common pleas sentence for possession of heroin.

The other man, Tobe McLarty, already has been sentenced to seven years in prison. Both men were in the car when federal law enforcement officers in April 2013 shot and killed 20-year-old Jermaine C. Coleman Jr., whom police said tried to run over them with his Chevrolet Impala at the drive through at 8980 Kingsridge Dr.

Court documents stated police Christian and McLarty were wanted on felony warrants and that drug deals had been seen at the nearby Penn Station on Kingsridge

Drive. Prosecutors alleged both had previously fled from police using high rates of speed. While the car was inside the drive-through liquor establishment, FBI personnel from the Southern Ohio Safe Streets Task Force blocked the entrance and exit bays.

That’s when the documents indicate Coleman put the car in reverse and rammed into a special agent’s vehicle — nearly knocking it from the bay — and then accelerated forward to ram into another police vehicle. An affidavit said “the driver of the Impala was fatally wounded during the incident.” McLarty had a gunshot wound to the left shoulder. The record said FBI personnel administered first aid and then placed McLarty and Christian under arrest.

FBI officials found suspected heroin capsules, about $3,000 in cash and multiple cell phones. Christian identified himself as Isaac Woodfork, even signing that name on the Miranda waiver form. He admitted he and Coleman had been selling narcotics.

Court documents show Christian was accountable for distributing 100 grams of heroin and 11.34 grams of cocaine.

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