LEBANON — Warren County drug agents won a second chance to pursue charges against alleged drug dealer Rodney Prater of Salem Township.

        The ruling this week by the Ohio 12th District Court of Appeals also salvaged the reputations of drug agents who were accused of misleading a Warren County judge to obtain a search warrant, said John Burke, head of the Warren-Clinton Drug and Strategic Operations Task Force.

        The appeals court decision overturned a December order by Judge Neal Bronson that threw out all evidence against Mr. Prater, including three pounds of marijuana, one-third pound of cocaine, financial records and other items found at his home on Shawhan Road.

        Judge Bronson said that two search warrants were faulty because police had nothing but unsubstantiated tips from informants to link Mr. Prater to drug trafficking, and that an agent misled the judge who issued the warrant into believing he had more evidence than he did.

        Judge Bronson also alleged that drug agents had waited too long after receiving information about Mr. Prater to search his property. Without the evidence, prosecutors said their case was destroyed.

        Mr. Prater, who is free on bond, was arrested May 14, 2001, after drug agents served the warrants at his residence. He is charged with trafficking in and possession of marijuana and cocaine.

        Court documents said that Mr. Prater came under investigation nearly a year earlier when an informant told police a large amount of cocaine was being distributed through the East End Carry Out, a Lebanon business owned by Mr. Prater's wife. Police lacked sufficient evidence to search the business.

        However, a second informant later told authorities that Mr. Prater's son, Bart Osborne, talked of dealing cocaine with his father.

        Mr. Osborne remains at large after failing to show up for sentencing in December.

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