Suspected Drug Dealer Nicknamed 'Hillbilly' Arrested In Connection With Overdose Deaths
BEDFORD TOWNSHIP (WWJ) -- A man suspected of selling heroin to three people who overdosed and died has been arrested in Monroe County.
Police allege that 53-year-old Rickey Bernard -- who goes by the nickname "Hillbilly" -- sold the narcotics to the victims while working as a maintenance man at the Willows Motel in Bedford Township. According to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, two of the deaths occurred at the motel. The third death was in Frenchtown Township.
Heroin, cocaine and fentanyl -- a painkiller normally prescribed to cancer patients -- were found at the motel.
[MORE: Drugs Laced With Fentanyl Linked To Over 70 Deaths In Southeast Michigan]
Toxicology results on the three dead men have not yet been completed.
Bernard was arrested on suspicion of selling and/or facilitating the sale of drugs within the motel complex. He is also being charged with tampering with evidence after he went through the pockets of one of the deceased men, took his money and used his cell phone.
Bernard remains jailed on $250,000 bond.
Anyone with information pertaining to the deaths is asked to call the Monroe County Sheriff's Office Detective Bureau at 734-240-7530.
