By Sheila McLaughlin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Harley

Robinson

LEBANON - A couple who ran a crack house on East Warren Street pleaded guilty to drug charges Friday in a plea bargain offered a week before they were scheduled for trial.

Eric Harley, 39, was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of drug trafficking for selling about 3.4 grams of crack cocaine to undercover drug agents on Dec. 17 and Jan. 2. One incident occurred while his accomplice's 3-year-old grandson was present.

Judge James Flannery released Victoria Robinson, 41, on her promise to return for sentencing after the grandmother of two pleaded guilty to two counts of permitting drug abuse for allowing Harley to deal crack from her rented townhouse.

Other charges of drug trafficking were dropped against Harley and Robinson in the plea agreement. Prosecutors agreed on Harley's one-year sentence as part of the deal.

The two fast-food restaurant workers were arrested Jan. 31 following a two-month investigation by the Warren-Clinton Drug and Strategic Operations Task Force that also resulted in child endangering charges against Robinson's two daughters.

Flannery ordered Harley to pay a $5,000 fine, mandatory in drug cases. He faced up to six years in prison.

Robinson, who had been jailed for 64 days, could go to prison for up to two years. But, Flannery indicated that he is likely to put her on probation when she appears in Warren County Common Pleas Court for sentencing in about a month.

Child endangering charges also were being considered against Harley involving allegations that he poured beer down the throat of Robinson's 10-month-old granddaughter and blew crack smoke in the infant's face.

Authorities were still searching for Robinson's daughter, Crystal, after the 19-year-old Morrow woman failed to appear at her arraignment this week in Juvenile Court. Crystal Robinson is accused of tying up her baby with a phone cord while Harley allegedly subjected the child to beer and crack.

E-mail smclaughlin@enquirer.com