A.G.'s Office: Dealers May Be Rebranding Heroin Connected To Overdose Deaths
CLAIRTON (KDKA) -- There was another heroin bust in the area today.
There's been renewed attention on heroin amid a string of overdose deaths tied to a particular type of heroin.
Early Thursday morning, agents from Pennsylvania's Office of the Attorney General and Clairton Police arrested 39-year-old Tywon Newby and charged him with heroin possession and intent to deliver.
Newby said nothing as he headed to his arraignment.
But, according to the criminal complaint, Newby and two others were found in a house in the 500-block of Third Street in Clairton when agents arrived.
During a search of the second floor where Newby was sleeping, police say they found 25 stamp bags of heroin in a coat, and then found a shoebox inside the closet with 48 bricks of heroin, each brick containing about 50 individual stamp bags.
In all, more than 2,000 stamp bags of heroin and more than $8,500 in cash.
The bags were stamped "Sky High."
The Attorney General's Office says investigators believe that drug dealers may be "rebranding" the heroin now that the stamps, including "Theraflu" and "Bud Ice," have been widely reported to be highly dangerous.
The affidavit of probable cause reports that this particular case developed after police used surveillance and used a confidential informant for two controlled buys from the defendant.
It will be information gained on the street that will help lead investigators to whoever is producing the drug.
Attorney General Kathleen Kane is urging anyone with information about the heroin trade to call her tip line at 1-800-442-8006.
Newby's bond has been set at 150,000.
RELATED LINKS:
More Reports on the Overdose Deaths
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