While Jerrick J. Daniels was running his Canton restaurant Food Over Everything, he also admitted in federal court that he was selling sold methamphetamine and heroin.
The 45-year-old Canton man will be serving a 15-year federal prison sentence instead of operating his restaurant at 2108 Fremont Place SW.
Federal prosecutors filed for a final forfeiture order in U.S. District Court in Akron on Aug. 3 regarding Daniels’ guns. An FBI agent in a criminal complaint said the Stark County Safe Streets Task Force seized 10 guns and ammunition from Daniels during raids on his home and restaurant in May 2025. The filing took place after U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster sentenced Daniels to 15 years in prison on July 21.
Daniels pleaded guilty in March to all four charges alleged against him in a grand jury indictment: possession with intent to distribute at least 50 grams of methamphetamine; possession and intent to distribute at least 100 grams of heroin; possessing firearms and ammunition after a felony conviction; and possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking.
Daniels previously had been sentenced in Stark County Common Pleas Court to 18 months in state prison in 2014 after convictions for cocaine trafficking and possession of cocaine and heroin.
Jerrick Daniels’ federal prison term
A message seeking comment was left the evening of Aug. 3 for Daniels’ attorney Kristen Kowalski.
In a sentencing memo filed with the court on July 14, Kowalski argued for a sentence of 15 years in accordance with the plea agreement with federal prosecutors.
She wrote that, “Jerrick deeply regrets the decisions he made that have brought him in front of this Court. He has reflected on his conduct and the circumstances that prompted it, and in doing so, has gained significant insight about the thought processes that led him to the offenses in his case.”
Raid on Canton restaurant
Members of the Stark County Safe Streets Task Force had made undercover drug purchases from Daniels. On May 2, 2025, the task force raided Daniel’s home on Navarre Road SW.
Officers seized from his home’s basement, front closet, kitchen cabinet and dining room cabinet the six guns, which included five handguns and a shotgun. They also found a bag of a powdery substance in the dining room, eight bags with a crystalline substance in the front closet that later tested positive for methamphetamine and two digital scales with residue.
The task force raided Daniels’ restaurant on May 5. Five bags with suspected drugs were found in Daniel’s Dodge Ram truck parked outside. Officers found four guns in the restaurant.
In total, the complaint said officers seized from both locations eight pounds of suspected methamphetamine, 170 grams of suspected heroin, 28 grams of suspected cocaine, 10 guns and packaging.
It’s not clear if Daniels sold drugs from his restaurant or elsewhere but investigators said his ‘drug trafficking enterprise’ was run from his home and restaurant.
Kowalski wrote that Daniels had been a good family man and had supported his daughter while she was bullied in school and bought her a saxophone so she could be part of the high school marching band in addition to helping care for his grandchild. His attorney added that Daniels had purchased homes in disrepair and rehabilitated them before renting them out.
Since his arrest, Daniels has been held at the private Northeast Correctional Center in Youngstown, which has a contract with the U.S. Marshals service. His attorney wrote that Daniels has completed several certification programs while incarcerated including “Anger Management,” “Becoming Tech Savvy” and “Basic Spanish Skills.”
A call to the restaurant’s phone number was not answered the evening of Aug. 3. The property’s owner is listed as Daniels’ wife.
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton restaurant operator sentenced to 15 years on drugs, gun charges
Reporting by Robert Wang, Canton Repository / The Repository
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Robert Wang, Canton Repository | USA TODAY Network
