COLUMBIANA — Drug charges stemming from a Tuesday arrest on Pittsburgh Street are expected to be elevated due to being within 1,000 feet of a school.

According to Columbiana Drug Task Force director Jesse Smith, members of the county sheriff’s department, Columbiana police and DTF took Travis Swinehart into custody while he was parked at a Unity Township cemetery in his vehicle.

Smith said that they had acquired search warrants for both him and his residence at 226 Pittsburgh St.

Swinehart had been under investigation for both theft and drug trafficking offenses. Agents also were assisted by K-9 units from East Palestine and Beaver Township police departments, and the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators then executed the residential search warrant at 226 Pittsburgh St., which is only blocks from the city of Columbiana’s future administration building/police department.

Smith said that between both the initial arrest and the search warrants, DTF agents located roughly 29 grams of methamphetamine and three handguns, along with paraphernalia consistent with drug use and drug trafficking.

Any drug weight above 3.5 grams is considered eligible for a trafficking offense, he added.

While at the residence, Smith said that agents also found a crude improvised explosive, which was transferred to the Youngstown Bomb Squad.

In addition to the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office, agencies on the Columbiana County DTF include Salem, East Liverpool, Lisbon, Columbiana, Liverpool Township and Wellsville police departments.

The case has been forwarded to the Columbiana County Prosecutor’s Office.

Smith also thanked the Youngstown Bomb Squad for their quick response, and the Ohio Adult Parole for their assistance in the investigation.

Swinehart had previous felony convictions for drugs, as recently as 2020. According to the case docket, he had been released from prison in March 2022.