MANSFIELD, Ohio — The Richland County Sheriff's Office is working to determine who crashed a drone carrying contraband into a house in Mansfield on Monday.
It happened around 10:30 p.m. in the 1200 block of Evergreen Avenue West.
According to the sheriff's report, a 17-year-old resident heard something hit her home and went outside to investigate. Outside, she found a DJI Phantom 4 drone with a package attached to it. The drone was still on and beeping, and it's onboard lights were concealed with duct tape.
Concerned about the package, the 17-year-old and an adult resident contacted authorities.
Deputies later inspected the package and found several bags of marijuana and tobacco. Also inside were two cell phones with chargers.
Drones have been used to drop contraband like drugs and cell phones into area correctional facilities, including the Cuyahoga County Jail.
The owner of the Ashland County Pictures Facebook page, who spoke to Captain Donald Zehner with the Richland County Sheriff's Office, said that the Ohio State Highway Patrol and sheriff's office have reported drone use in the delivery of marijuana, tobacco and cell phones to the Mansfield Correctional Institute and the Richland Correctional Institution, which is less than two miles from the house the drone crashed into.
Zehner was asked if someone may want to claim the drone, worth around $2,000.
"Oh, sure!" he said to the Ashland County Pictures Facebook page owner. "If someone wants to claim it, by all means contact the Richland County Sheriff’s Office, at (419) 524-2412 or better yet just stop by the Sheriff’s Office, at 597 Park Ave East, and I will personally help them fill out the paperwork to claim it."
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
