How an anonymous tip led to the arrest of a man with vicious dogs, a grenade launcher and drug tools

An anonymous letter to a police drug task force initiated an investigation, arrest and prosecution of an alleged Dayton drug dealer who had two “vicious” dogs, a grenade launcher and drug trafficking tools in a home where he operated, according to federal court records.

Davon “Vonno” Lundy, 37, is accused of selling methamphetamine and cocaine, according to a complaint and affidavit filed in Dayton’s U.S. District Court.

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Lundy agreed last week to a bill of information for one count of trafficking meth. No sentencing date has been scheduled. A message left with Lundy’s federal public defender was not immediately returned.

The complaint said that, acting on a tip to the RANGE task force run by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, agents set up 10 controlled buys of narcotics from Lundy during an investigation that finished more than a year after the tip.

The complaint written by Special Agent Richard Hensel of Homeland Security Investigations said the operation started with a January 2017 letter to RANGE. The letter said drug dealing operations were being conducted by Lundy and that Lundy threatened the owner of a home.

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A confidential informant bought meth and cocaine from Lundy 10 times over several months. All of the drugs were tested and logged by the Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab. Agents also tracked the defendant’s light green 2005 Chrysler 300 and other uncharged people.

The 10th buy was on March 21, 2018, after which the informant described a home in the 200 block of Huron Avenue as a “trap house” that contained two “vicious pit bulls” and which was outfitted with an alarm that would go off anytime anyone approached the door, according to Hensel.

Two days later, the complaint said, a detective obtained a search warrant for two residences, which were executed simultaneously.

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Two men were located inside the 200 block residence. Public court records do not indicate that there are federal cases connected to this incident against either of them.

The complaint said nothing was seized from another Huron Avenue residence in the 200 block. But taken from the “trap house” were marijuana, ammunition of various calibers, firearms, a grenade launcher, suspected crack cocaine, ballistic vests and documents.

Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer said Friday that the task forces don’t get many anonymous letters, but that they do get anonymous tips and “most of the time they pan out and it’s good intelligence.”

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