For those that cannot read the article from the Beacon Journal.
Copley man charged in deaths of 3 men did prison time for drug ring run out of Akron
Amanda Garrett
Akron Beacon Journal
Police have taken a 58-year-old Copley man into custody in connection with the deaths of three men
found Friday bound, gagged and dumped along two roads.
Officials have yet to identify all of the victims, but a joint statement released Saturday said investigators believed they had been kidnapped from "outside this area and brought to Summit County."
Investigators apparently zeroed in on Elias Gudino within hours of the bodies being discovered, obtaining a search warrant for his Henetta Avenue home Friday night. Gudino − who was sentenced to 150 months in prison in 2010 after federal officials broke up a national drug ring they said Gudino led from Akron − has been charged with one count of aggravated murder and one of attempted aggravated murder, according to the statement.
It's unclear what led police to Gudino or what they found in his home that may link him to the bodies.
A passerby called Akron police Friday about 8:30 a.m. when he saw two of the men's bodies dumped on Cordova Avenue in a narrow wooded area that runs between the city street and a sound barrier blocking Interstate 77 North.
About 20 minutes later, Copley police received a similar call about a body dumped off Wright Road, less than 2 miles away from the Cordova Avenue dump site. Besides being bound and gagged, all of the men had been shot in the head.
Akron and Copley police are working jointly to investigate the case and said Saturday they believe others could face charges.
Public records show that Gudino at one time owned La Michoacana Taqueria and grocery in the 1400 block of Copley Road in West Akron.
Court records show he was born in Mexico and came to the U.S. in the 1980s and became an American citizen.
In 2009, when Gudino lived in Akron, federal agents had been investigating what they referred to as the "Elias Gudino Drug Trafficking Organization," court records said.
Investigators said they had information that Gudino had been trafficking drugs since the 1990s and now had an operation that was based in southern Mexico, but reached across the U.S. in Ohio, Colorado, Oklahoma and other states, court records said.
Much of the investigation, however, focused on Akron, where officials said he was supplying local cocaine dealers and operating his business. When investigators tapped Gudino's phone, they heard him talking to people in Mexico and other states about what he was moving through the trafficking organization, court records said.
Investigators moved in when Gudino and another man were bringing a shipment of cocaine into Akron, court records said. When they stopped a vehicle Gudino and the man were in, they found about 8 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a compartment near the radiator, records show.
A few months later, Gudino pleaded guilty to two federal charges involving drug trafficking and was sentenced to 150 months in prison, followed by five years' probation.
Federal prison records show Gudino was released from prison in November 2017, but court records show he remained on probation at least through May 2022.
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