By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - Butler County drug traffickers' prison sentences could grow by five years because of a new approach by law enforcement, Prosecutor Robin Piper said.

"Exchanging money to promote a corrupt activity, such as selling drugs, actually can get a person indicted for money laundering," Piper said.

On Wednesday, a grand jury released what Piper believes to be the county's first drug-trafficking indictment under a little-used section of Ohio law regarding money laundering. Cranston Streeter, 21, of Middletown, faces three counts of trafficking in cocaine, tampering with evidence and a count of money laundering.

Basically, the charge alleges that the suspect committed a crime "by receiving the money as the result of corrupt activity, knowing that the money coming to him is the result of corrupt activity," Piper said. The charge is a third-degree felony carrying a prison sentence of up to five years and a fine of up to $10,000 upon conviction.

Although the money-laundering law has been in effect since September 1996, the statute is located in "a separate portion of the Ohio Revised Code not normally used by most local prosecutors," Piper said.

Middletown drug investigators had seen the law used against drug dealers in neighboring Montgomery County, and they called it to Piper's attention. "We looked at it, and saw that it did fit," he said. "We're starting to ask grand juries to consider it.

"We're looking for all of the support in the law we can get to fight the war on drugs," Piper said, "and this statute will just be another instrument in our tool belt."

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com