The 'Crack Palace' raid is America's two-tiered justice system
The Belmont County Jail was not built for men like Bob Gentile. He and his political allies know it, too.
On Wednesday, The Rooster broke the story about former Assistant U.S. Energy Secretary Bob Gentile owning the “Crack Palace” at the center of a three-suspect cocaine raid in Belmont County on June 11.
Two of the suspects, Kody Vinka and Stacy Brown-Jarowski, are out on bail. The third suspect, Lewis Dunn, remains in custody on $55,000 bond.
According to the Belmont County court docket, if Dunn posts bail, he’s not to return to the Uniontown Flushing Road home listed as his residence. He would also be restricted from contacting his co-defendants… or Mr. Gentile.
The obvious question becomes: How did three people who, frankly speaking, looked like they’d be operating what authorities called “a cocaine laboratory” in Belmont County, do so under Dutton’s eye?
“Crack Palace,” while no doubt opulent to the eye of the average drug addict, is not a sprawling palatial compound that serves as a testament to Gentile’s wealth. It’s a four-bedroom, two-bathroom, 3,876-square-foot residence.
It’s big, but not big enough for an owner to credibly claim they weren’t aware their roommate was operating a drug laboratory colloquially known as “Crack Palace,” as well as the distribution legwork that comes with it.
But why was Gentile living with someone who, crimes aside, was 45 years his junior? It’s not as if Gentile needed to split bills or needed to skimp on home healthcare at his advanced age.
Talking with legal, political and street sources throughout Thursday revealed a consistent story. According to these independent sources, Gentile had groomed Dunn from high school, with Dunn serving as his “live-in lover” for over 20 years.
The trouble, however, started in May, when two alleged cocaine traffickers, Hervie Johnson of Cleveland and David Holden of Lorain, were ostensibly pulled over for a windshield wiper violation in Harrison County, which borders Belmont County to the north.
According to one source, the duo had Crack Palace on Uniontown and Flushing Road dialed into their vehicle’s GPS system.
