This is the fourth chapter in a five-part investigation. To start at the beginning, click here.
ATHENS, Ohio — In October 2022, a 48-year-old Athens County man died of a drug overdose at the New Marshfield home of Tonia and Daniel Martin. An autopsy conducted by the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office found that the man died due to “multiple drug toxicity” — specifically, cocaine, fentanyl and trazodone.
According to Daniel Martin’s indictment, “Agents with the Southeast Ohio Major Crimes Task force received information from multiple people that they believed Daniel [Martin] was the responsible person for selling the narcotics that lead to [the man’s] death.”
An Athens County grand jury handed down indictments of Tonia and Daniel Martin on Jan. 22, 2024. The indictments say each of the Martins had sold oxycodone to a confidential informant.
According to the indictments, Daniel Martin had a prescription for oxycodone. A motion for continuance filed Jan. 30 shows that Daniel has a history of colon cancer and various other ailments, and has an extensive surgical history; he had multiple surgeries that month alone.
According to Tonia Martin’s and Daniel Martin’s indictments, an April 2023 search of their home turned up oxycodone and methadone — neither of which were among the drugs found in the dead man’s autopsy, although the coroner did test for them.
Both Daniel and Tonia Martin’s indictments allege that “Harmony Wharton is funding the acquisition of narcotics by Tonia Martin and Daniel Martin” and that she “is providing U.S. currency for the purpose of obtaining narcotics that are later sold by the drug trafficking organization.” The indictments also allege that “records demonstrate that Ms. Wharton is obtaining narcotics directly from the organization.”
The only evidence given in the indictments are references to nonspecific “records” and a statement from a confidential informant that “the Wharton chick” was going to buy all of Daniel Martin’s pills.
In separate interviews with the Independent, both Harmony Wharton and her attorney, Scott Petroff, denied Harmony Wharton’s alleged criminal wrongdoing in the Martins’ cases. Petroff said the allegations contained in the Martins’ indictment are “hearsay,” and objected to his client’s name appearing in indictments for a case in which she has not been charged.
“They don’t have to include that information to establish probable cause to search the places, or for the indictment at all, or for the search warrants or for anything,” Petroff told the Independent. “To me, it doesn’t serve any purpose.”
Petroff asserted in a Jan. 31 affidavit that Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn is using the Martin cases to intervene in his friend Bryan Wharton’s divorce from Harmony Wharton.
“I believe that both the Martin investigation, and [a subsequent incident], are being used to harass Harmony and further Bryan’s interests in the divorce proceedings,” Petroff stated in the affidavit.
In an interview, Blackburn implied that if Harmony Wharton had cooperated with his office — which initially would have included entering drug rehabilitation and monitoring by his office — she would not have been identified in the indictment.
“Almost in every case like this, at some point, we have offered someone an opportunity to be either a confidential informant, or to cooperate, get drug treatment and not get charged. I mean, that happens all the time,” he said. “And when someone refuses to cooperate and do that, then they’re making themselves … a potential target.”
In addition to Harmony Wharton, the indictments also name other alleged co-conspirators, including the physician who allegedly prescribed drugs to members of the drug trafficking ring, as well as another individual who allegedly bought drugs.
“The case is still under investigation. Whether someone’s been charged now or not isn’t necessarily indicative of what’s going to happen,” Blackburn said. “Whether there are unnamed people involved – that’s always possible, too.”
Blackburn said that in his office, naming unindicted co-conspirators in indictments is “standard procedure. It happens all the time. … When someone’s not a confidential informant, you have to identify them as something.” He added that a name is a “readily identifiable” way to refer to a person, adding that “adults are generally named.”
Even if naming unindicted co-conspirators is standard practice in Blackburn’s office, Petroff said he views the practice as harmful. The U.S. Department of Justice prohibits federal lawyers from doing so, and it is a topic of discussion in law circles.
“[Naming people in an indictment without charging them] diminishes their reputation within the community, and it doesn’t provide any opportunity to defend yourself against that,” Petroff said.
Petroff also said that Blackburn’s “standard procedure” isn’t an excuse for his office’s effect on Harmony Wharton’s life.
“Her name being in the indictment was used against her in the divorce case,” Petroff said.
Text messages trigger search warrants
On Jan. 23, the Athens County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant to seize Harmony Wharton’s cell phone from her car — seeking evidence of drug possession and/or trafficking as part of the Martin cases.
She was stopped near Trimble Middle School in Jacksonville.
“I pointed out [to Blackburn] that it was improper for officers, at his direction, to execute a search warrant in front of the school,” Petroff stated in a Jan. 31 affidavit. “Blackburn’s response was that … if she wanted to avoid prosecution she should not be engaged in that type of behavior.”
The Jan. 23 warrant, sworn by Det. Brice Fick, cites text messages on Tonia Martin’s phone as grounds for the search. Those messages included references to “Harmony” as well as messages allegedly between Tonia Martin and Harmony Wharton.
In the warrant, Fick stated that “in this officer’s training and experience,” Harmony Wharton and Tonia Martin’s use of Snapchat — a messaging app with over 400 million daily users worldwide — is suspicious. He also said that text messages between the two women were coded exchanges about narcotics.
In his Jan. 31 affidavit, Petroff stated that Tonia Martin worked for Harmony Wharton’s optometrist and that a discussion cited in the warrant concerned picking up and paying for a pair of eyeglasses. The optometry business confirmed to the Independent that Tonia Martin formerly worked there.
Harmony Wharton told the Independent that she has known Tonia Martin since the two were cheerleaders in high school together, and has “been supportive to her” during Daniel Martin’s ongoing fight with cancer.
”I still consider her a friend,” Harmony Wharton said.
The Jan. 23 ACSO traffic stop did not immediately result in any charges pertaining to drugs, drug paraphernalia or drug trafficking. According to body cam footage from the Jan. 23 traffic stop, the sheriff’s office seized Harmony Wharton’s two phones. She told the Independent she kept a second phone because her primary phone is paid for by her husband and she wanted a way to communicate that he could not monitor.
The Jan. 23 traffic stop turned up an empty can of alcohol in a black plastic bag under Harmony Wharton’s passenger seat. In body cam footage, Harmony Wharton says the can came from a friend, who had left it in the vehicle. She was cited for open container, a misdemeanor, on Jan. 25.
On Jan. 29, she pleaded not guilty to the open container charge. She also filed a demand for discovery of the evidence cited as grounds for the Jan. 23 search warrant. Petroff also filed a supplemental demand for discovery on Feb. 1.
Neither demand was fulfilled. Instead, the court dismissed the charges on Feb. 12 “[d]ue to prosecutor’s decision not to proceeded (sic) to trial, but not due to lack of probable cause to arrest.”
Petroff said in an email on Aug. 7 that he has requested the return of Harmony Wharton’s electronic devices seized in the Jan. 23 search. A related records request is pending.
Blackburn said in a July 9 interview that Harmony Wharton’s phone is “in the possession of a law enforcement agency and is still part of a criminal investigation.” He declined to specify which agency has the device, and did not recall the seizure of a second device.
The Martins take plea deals
On May 14, as part of a deal with the prosecutor’s office, Tonia Martin entered a plea deal with the Athens County Prosecutor’s Office.
As part of the deal, Tonia Martin agreed to cooperate with law enforcement in the prosecution of other indicted and unindicted co-conspirators. Judge Patrick Lang sentenced her to five years of probation.
According to a Feb. 23 draft court document the Athens County Prosecutor’s Office sent to the Independent at Blackburn’s direction, Tonia Martin implicated Harmony Wharton in the Martins’ cases.
“Ms. Martin admitted that she was illegally supplying narcotics directly to Harmony Wharton and that Harmony Wharton was helping fund the Martin drug trafficking organization,” the draft document stated. “It is believed that Harmony Wharton has provided thousands of dollars to the Martins in furtherance of the Martin drug trafficking organization.”
Daniel Martin entered his own plea deal on June 17; the prosecutor’s office recommended that he be sentenced to four years in prison. The state will not oppose judicial release when he becomes eligible.
Sky Pettey, Tonia Martin’s attorney, declined to comment on his review of discovery and Harmony Wharton’s role in the case. Aaron Conrad, Daniel Martin’s attorney, did not respond to requests for comment.
Special prosecutor now overseeing Harmony Wharton case
In his Jan. 31 affidavit, Petroff said he requested that Blackburn seek a special prosecutor for Harmony Wharton’s alleged drug case in January over concerns with Blackburn’s personal connection to Harmony Wharton and her husband. Blackburn refused these requests on multiple occasions, Petroff said in the affidavit.
Following Petroff’s disagreements with Blackburn over Blackburn’s role in the office’s investigation of Harmony Wharton, Assistant Prosecutor Andrew Sanderson reached out in late February to Petroff “to try to communicate with [Petroff] more effectively about this case.” The communication came with an additional offer of immunity for Harmony Wharton in exchange for an interview.
In response, Petroff told the Independent he threatened that if the ACPO forced Harmony Wharton to testify, he would pursue “a cause of action against the county” — an option he told the Independent he still might pursue.
That’s the last communication Petroff’s office had with the ACPO about Harmony Wharton’s case, he said in July. Harmony Wharton’s case has since been reassigned to a special prosecutor in Delaware County, Petroff said.
As of publication, Harmony Wharton has still not been indicted in the case in either Athens or Delaware counties.
“It could be months or even longer before a case like this is fully resolved,” Blackburn said.
Representatives of the Delaware County Prosecutor’s Office denied a request for comment.
Read the fifth and final chapter in the Independent’s investigation.
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