By Amanda O’Rourke
HARRISBURG — Narcotics agents from the state Office of Attorney General arrested six suspects Tuesday in connection with a drug ring responsible for importing and distributing heroin and crack cocaine into Northumberland, Union and Snyder counties.
The defendants were arraigned by District Judge Robert Bolton and will be prosecuted in Northumberland County by Deputy Attorney General David Gorman of the Attorney General’s Drug Strike Force Section.
Those charged in Tuesday’s roundup were Thomas Edwards, 28, currently incarcerated in the Northumberland County Prison; John Jones, 40, 528 Mahoning St., Milton; Brittany Tovey, 22, 2118 N. Old Trail, Hummels Wharf; Danielle Dinant, 26, 351 Arch St., Sunbury; Brett Leitzel, 25, currently incarcerated in the State Correctional Institution at Somerset; and Nicole Bower, 24, 1344 Hosta Road, Paxinos.
Edwards’ and Leitzel’s incarceration stemmed from unrelated charges.
Attorney General Tom Corbett said the arrests are a culmination of a joint investigation that began in Sunbury in January 2008 and focused on Thomas “Murder” Edwards and John “J” Jones, who allegedly worked together to bring large quanities of heroin from Harrisburg and New York into Sunbury for redistribution.
“This is the most recent initiative that reinforces our continuing effort to mitigate the influx of suspected drug dealers from the New York City-Northern New Jersey metro area into our Central Susquehanna Valley,” Sunbury Police Chief Stephen Mazzeo said.
Corbett said 14 street-level dealers were arrested in a previous phase of the investigation last year.
Serious situation
“Any time you have dealers trafficking not only drugs, but gang-related activity into your towns, it is a serious situation,” Corbett said. “Fortunately, our agents were able to follow leads from earlier arrests and used that information to work up the chain and take down these higher-level dealers.”
The investigation was placed before a statewide investigating grand jury that recommended criminal charges be filed on Tuesday, the attorney general’s office said.
According to a Dauphin County grand jury document, Edwards is a member of the violent New York-based Bloods street gang and has a criminal record dating to 1999 that includes gun and drug offenses.
He was most recently picked up in a drug sweep that netted 35 suspects in Northumberland County. Edwards also has been tied to a suspected planned jailbreak at the Northumberland County Prison in 2005 and the 2008 assault of a young woman whose boyfriend Edwards suspected of disclosing information to police.
Originally from New York, Edwards first surfaced in the Sunbury area in 2004, but was sent to state prison in 2005 after his arrest in Sunbury for the delivery of crack cocaine and heroin. He was eventually released from that state sentence after serving the minimum term and resurfaced in the Sunbury area in late-2007.
In addition to his lengthy criminal record, Edwards also has claimed involvement in a drug-related homicide on 19th Street in Harrisburg prior to his 2004 Sunbury arrest, court records show. He has never been charged with homicide.
According to the grand jury, both Edwards and Jones were significant heroin dealers, with Edwards possessing up to 50 grams — slightly less than 2 ounces — at any given time and Jones dealing in bundle quantities, containing 10 to 14 single-dose bags.
According to the grand jury, Tovey and Leitzel assisted Edwards by making runs to suppliers for drugs and by selling drugs for Edwards in Northumberland and Montour counties. Tovey is described as Edwards’ former girlfriend. Leitzel lived with Edwards and Tovey and had dated Bower, another of the alleged participants in the operation
Police said Bower also at one time lived with Leitzel, Tovey and Edwards.
In exchange for heroin, Dinant allegedly sold heroin and allowed Edwards to use her car to make drug runs into New York City.
Corbett said that many of the suspects allegedly dealing for Edwards were heroin addicts and would receive heroin as payment for selling the drugs.
Assisting with the investigation were the Northumberland County district attorney’s office, the Montour-Northumberland Drug Task Force, the Sunbury Police Department, the Northumberland Police Department, the Point Township Police Department, Northumberland County probation and the state police.
Of those charged Tuesday, all had bail set at $100,000. Dinant and Bower are free on bail. Preliminary hearings have been scheduled for Nov. 19, beginning at 9:15 a.m., at Bolton’s office.
