Four area residents are behind bars for the alleged distribution of heroin.
A combined effort between Jacksonville Police, the Central Illinois Enforcement Group, and the Morgan County State’s Attorney’s Office has led to the arrest of six individuals, four of whom are charged with alleged delivery of controlled substances, specifically heroin.
The apprehension of said subjects occurred at approximately 7:30 last night, when officers of the JPD’s Special Response Team executed a search warrant on a residence located at 746 Serenity Lane.
As a result of that search warrant, 26-year old Jonathan Hardin, 24-year old Kastrina Johnson, 31-year old Jonathan Cooley, 37-year old Tina Ramsey, and 26-year old Lacey Pruett were taken into custody on various charges. A sixth suspect, 33-year old Sammy Bunch, was also charged…however, Bunch was already lodged at the Morgan County jail for a separate crime.
In terms of the individual charges regarding the delivery of controlled substances, Hardin was arrested on two counts, Johnson and Pruett were arrested on one count each, and Bunch was charged with four counts. Ramsey was arrested for allegedly endangering the life or health of a child for having a child living inside of the residence. And Cooley, who police had been searching for in regards to a separate incident, was located at the residence and arrested for retail theft.
Lieutenant Doug Thompson with the Jacksonville Police Investigations Department explains what led authorities to initiate the investigation.
“We had, during the course of multiple overdoses over the last few months, we started learning who might be dealing heroin. So once we started trying to put together who our suspects may be, we started watching different residences, and that’s what led us to this location,” explains Thompson.
Thompson says this particular investigation has been ongoing for several months.
“It’s been probably three to four months now that we’ve been working on trying to piece it all together. We had enough information that we were able to obtain a search warrant from the State’s Attorney Office and the Judge’s Office. At that point we went and made entry into the residence to search it,” says Thompson.
According to Thompson, all of the individuals arrested at the residence were cooperative with authorities and were apprehended peacefully. Local police say the investigation is still ongoing.