Heroin, cocaine, cash seized

 

Four arrested in a raid on a South Point house will be in Lawrence County Municipal Court today for arraignments on drug charges.

Asim McCoy, 32, of Huntington, W.Va.; Joseph Whaley, 22 of Ironton; and Benjamin Willis, 32, and Amee Pyles, 28, both of South Point, are scheduled for arraignments before county Municipal Court Judge Donald R. Capper.

The arrests occurred at 98 Township Road 1025, South Point, following the execution of a search warrant at approximately 9 p.m. Wednesday.

A fifth person at the home, Jerome Yancey, 32, of Huntington, was arrested on a probation violation. He will be arraigned in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court.

“This was an ongoing investigation of the drug task force,” Lawrence County Prosecutor Brigham Anderson said. “We executed a search warrant signed (Wednesday) by (Lawrence County Common Pleas Judge) Scott Bowling. It has been an ongoing investigation over the last few months.”

Recovered during the search conducted by the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office and the Lawrence Drug and Major Crimes Task Force were heroin, cocaine, digital scales, hypodermic syringes, drug paraphernalia, two firearms and ammunition and more than $2,800 in cash.

An intensive crackdown, led by the Ohio Attorney General’s office, on prescription drug clinics, also known as pill mills, has reduced those substances as drugs of choice among addicts, Anderson said.

“It has been a really good job of shutting down pill mills making prescription drugs really hard to get,” Anderson said. “Because of that we are seeing an influx of heroin into the community. This supply of Oxycontin is lower than it was a year ago. Certainly it is lower than two years ago. The answer is education. We need to start in the schools and with the youth, if we can get the kids early. We need to be pro-active with education and treatment for individuals. They are addicted. If they can’t get Oxycontin, the closer street drug is heroin.”