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YORK |
HERFORD |
Two suspected drug traffickers arrested last weekend as a result of a search warrant executed by deputies of the Logan County Sheriff’s Office had an extended history of selling narcotics to local addicts, and most recently were moving just enough heroin to support their own habit.
Melissa Herford, 42, of 316 W. Miami St., Apt. 2, told law enforcement during an interview following her arrest about 6:15 p.m. Sunday that she and her significant other, Bradley York, 30, traveled to Dayton “almost daily” to purchase powdered heroin.
The suspects amount to drug-dealing middlemen — purchasing the drug from larger-scale dealers, saving some back for personal use and reselling the rest at an increased price.
They purchase between one and four grams and return to their residence and package for resale what they don’t use personally. Herford reported to law enforcement that she and York “cut” the heroin with melatonin to expand the product.
A gram of heroin in Dayton costs $70, she said. The suspected traffickers cut the narcotic with melatonin and are able to sell it for more locally.
Herford said she snorts between one and three grams of heroin per day to avoid becoming ill, and had never used the drug intravenously.
Herford said that at the height of their dealing, the couple had as many as 50 customers, but had recently scaled back their operation in an attempt to avoid detection. They’ve been dealing drugs for about three years, she said.
“Very few local drug dealers are getting wealthy dealing,” sheriff’s office deputies reported. “They’re doing it to keep a roof over their head and drugs in their body.”
The search warrant executed by the sheriff’s office Sunday concluded a months-long investigation into suspected drug activity at that residence.
“A substantial amount of suspected powder fentanyl, as well as other drug paraphernalia, money, packaging, ledgers/contacts and items consistent with drug trafficking were all seized as evidence,” according to the incident report. A cell phone and digital scales were also seized as evidence.
The goal is to “make it as difficult as possible for dealers and addicts to move drugs into our local community,” law enforcement officials said.
York and Herford each were charged with possession of, and trafficking in fentanyl, and were lodged in the Logan County Jail.