A regional drug task force in the Woodstock, Virginia, area placed seven people under arrest in connection with alleged heroin trafficking in the area. Those accused of drug-related offenses included three people accused of selling the drugs–a 23-year-old man, a 36-year-old man, and a 37-year-old man. Four men were charged with trying to buy heroin. They were ages 19, 29, 26, and 21. All but one of the arrestees were residents of Virginia.
The arrests were made on several occasions at the same location in Woodstock that investigators said had been used for drug transactions. During one arrest, police stated, eight grams of heroin was seized. In addition to drug charges, one arrestee is facing accusations of assaulting an officer, resisting arrest, and obstructing justice while trying to escape and avoid going to jail. He was chased on foot for a brief period and later apprehended. He is currently incarcerated, having been denied bail.
Cooperating law enforcement agencies in the heroin undercover operation that led to the arrests included the Front Royal Police Department, the Shenandoah County Sheriff’s Department, the Strasburg Police Department, and the Warren County Sheriff’s Office. Law enforcement, in making drug arrests, frequently conduct undercover operations, frequently using confidential informants, who in many instances themselves may have pending drug charges from past incidents. On occasions, such informants have been known to have provided false accusations against other in exchange for leniency in their own cases.
Criminal defense attorneys try to get to the bottom of such false accusations and the motives for them as well as whether false information was relied on to obtain search warrants, wiretaps, or similar authorizations in violation of Fourth Amendment rights. Sometimes when that is the case, evidence seized can be suppressed before trial.
Source:
NV Daily, “Drug busts net seven arrests in Woodstock” Joe Beck, Dec. 20, 2013
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