With the highways and economic factors, its all a perfect storm.. Lock College Park mayor, DC COVID Centers to close at the end of March, Mother calls for answers after son killed by police, MTPD: Two teenagers arrested, one had gun, Burglar used Germantown mans toothbrush, razor,, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. There wasnt a door that I knocked on when I was campaigning for City Council that people didnt say heroin and the opioid crisis was the number one issue, Keller says. Having beautiful open spaces is important, and its important to have a connection to your community, says city engineer Rodney Tissue, who moved to Hagerstown in 1986 and raised his two daughters here. Instead, he sought help by way of Suboxone (the commercial name for a combination of buprenorphineand naloxone), which he considers a miracle. When you cant find work, cant pay your billswho wants to think about that? Grant also was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia; possession of needles related to drugs; possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana; creating a common nuisance through distributing narcotics; and escape in the second degree, according to Kerns and online court records. The NFT is housed within the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)at the DEAs Hagerstown Office. Maybe 10-15 percent dont give you any problem and are trying to do the right thing, says Lee Green, an addictions counselor who is also an active member of a 12-step program. We interviewed our tech expert, Jaime Vazquez, to learn more about accessible smart home devices. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. 100 West Washington Street Hagerstown, MD 21740. There were a few people dedicated to establishing a Maryland orchestra, a few people trying to revive the Maryland Theatre. Christina Trenton Nee, COO, and Charlie Mooneyhan, CEO, of Wells House. HAGERSTOWN, Md. The following agencies maintain drop boxes to drop off your not-needed prescription medication. Secure .gov websites use HTTPSA lock ( By Ron Cassie and Lauren LaRocca Photography by BENJAMIN C. TANKERSLEY | July 2018, By Ron Cassie and Lauren LaRocca. As stated in his plea agreement, on August 9, 2019, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Smiths Hagerstown, Maryland residence. THE 15 BEST Things to Do in Hagerstown - Tripadvisor She tried treatment and rehab several times, and even laid down on the familys lawn once, begging her father to shoot her to put her out of her misery. HAGERSTOWN (WJZ) -- Seventeen Hagerstown residents and one Frederick resident were among 34 arrested Wednesday morning on indictments in a drug trafficking conspiracy. A sitting train and truck behind a lot along West Franklin Street. Major Drug and Weapons Bust Announced from February 9th in Hagerstown Weve been struggling for decades and hopefully this will get the ball rolling, she says. The rest of the state did not share that history, and Hagerstown and towns like it are dealing with something entirely new. We need to maintain a sense of hope. People began to say, Oh, if it can happen to that family, it can happen to my family, Sterling says. 34 indicted in drug ring run from Hagerstown appliance store, feds say A Maryland State Police corporal who occasionally works out of the Hagerstown barrack was arrested Saturday for allegedly leaking case information and abetting an illegal drug operation, according to federal court documents. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.. Clear skies. nyone wishing to report narcotics information is encouraged to contact the task force by calling 301-791-3205, emailing, Get the Android Weather app from Google Play, Best smart home devices for older users, according, How to get started on spring cleaning early, according, Worried about your student using ChatGPT for homework? Corey Diehl, two counts of distribution of heroin. In some cases, the defendants face penalties of five to 40 years in prison, 20 years in prison and 10 years to life, Bernard said. On Monday, the following people were brought into custody: Terry Ernede Jr., two counts of distribution of heroin. Hagerstown Center Of Alleged Drug Conspiracy, Prosecutors Say Seventeen Hagerstown residents and one Frederick resident were among 34 arrested Wednesday morning on indictments in a drug. Prosecutors allege that Luna Mota, the owner of Top 3 Sources, was using the West Washington Street store to keep and sell drugs. On at least 30 separate occasions between April 8 and May 8, 2019, Smith visited Tyler Wares residence. Multi-Jurisdictional Investigation Dismantles Western MD Drug A block away, the City of Hagerstown opened the artist-run Engine Room Art Space and four artist apartments above it in 2015, which also breathes some life into the city. It is alleged that Luna Mota, the owner of Top 3 Sources, a business in Hagerstown, Maryland, was using his business on West Washington Street for the purpose of having and selling controlled substances. 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Later, outside a Rotary Club meeting, Keller talks more optimistically about the citys current efforts to tackle the crisis. He moved on to 10-milligram Percocet, then 30-milligram. This is across the boardand Ill be the first to agree that attitudes are changing because more white people are dyingthats totally fair. Hes married with children and living his dream of being a full-time musician, touring his original folk-country songs across the U.S. In the first decades after World War II, during the early rumblings of the automobile age, Hagerstown continued to thrive, becoming a trucking hub as well a rail hub. Across the country, rural addiction rates have surpassed those in urban areas, yet there is still not a single inpatient drug treatment facility in Washington County. The school started with 85 students but this year surpassed 300, even though that meant holding classes in hallways and stairwells. The drug task force is comprised of sworn law enforcement officers and contributionsfrom theCaroline County Sheriff's Department, Maryland State Police, Maryland Natural Resources Police, Caroline County States Attorney's Office, and the Denton Police Department. Additionally, in less than one month, Smith and Tyler contacted each other 714 times by cell phone. s the former managing editor of Hagerstowns daily newspaper,The Herald-Mail, Dave Elliott witnessed firsthand the citys downward spiral. The Caroline County Drug Task Force started the investigation by looking into the operation of a drug trafficking organization believed to be distributing large amount of cocaine, opioids,. Kevin Simmers, a retired Hagerstown police officer, lost his 19-year-old daughter to an overdose and is now building a womens recovery center, Brookes House. He moved toThe Frederick News-Postin 1989 but lived in Hagerstown until 2000. The NFT is housed within the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) at the DEA's Hagerstown Office. Images courtesy of Hagerstown police Department. Thats everyone I know. For the past three years, the Simmerses have been working to build Brookes House in Washington County. Ketia Daniel, founder of BHM Cleaning Co., is BestReviews cleaning expert. Nine arrested in early morning drug bust in Westernport | WCBC To learn more about ChatGPT and how we can inspire students, we sat down with BestReviews book expert, Ciera Pasturel. Arrest made in Feb. 5 Hagerstown homicide. Some NTF agents are even deputized by the DEA as Federal Task Force Officers (TFO's). The first search was in the 500 block of Lynnehaven Drive in Hagerstown. He liked the feeling the Vicodin gave him and began to sometimes take the pills just for that hydrocodone buzz. Kevin Simmers relished locking up drug users, no matter how little crack they had on them. Big out-of-town industries such as Fairchild Aircraft, which once employed 10,000 people and closed its plant in 83, and Mack Trucks, which arrived in 1961 (and still makes trucks here, although it employs fewer people), were controlled from a distance and had no stake in the community, Elliott asserts. In the early 1980s, King ran a large drug operation in East Baltimore and was a well-known figure, driving a DeLorean sports car and smoking with a bejeweled Zippo. Grant was being held without bond Wednesday at the Washington County Detention Center. During the execution of the search warrant, Smith informed law enforcement that he had a storage unit in Hagerstown, Maryland and told officers where he kept the keys to the unit. Smith and the government have agreed that, if the Court accepts the plea agreement, Smith will be sentenced to 92 months in federal prison followed by 4 years of supervised release. These included the creation of a multi-jurisdictional Maryland State Police Heroin Investigation Unit to focus on mid-to-upper-level heroin and opioid distribution operations. Press Release. Grant briefly escaped, fleeing while handcuffed, and was captured a short distance away, Kerns said. Two more telltale signs of Hagerstowns plight are present here as well: The countys storefront offices sit in an all-but-abandoned shopping center, and nearby is a Superfund site, less than a mile from three public schools, and still in need of remediation two decades after it was added to the EPAs National Priorities List. On Monday, task force agents said they found Oliver with a significant amount of heroin. On at least 30 separate occasions between April 8 and May 8, 2019, Smith visited Tyler Wares residence. Carroll County drug dealers arrested on federal charges - WMAR And for the past two-and-a-half decades, the city has taken a public health approach to addiction, offering methadone programs, needle exchanges, HIV testing, and inpatient treatment opportunities before the pharmaceutical industry dumped OxyContin and other opioids onto a nave market. Had we not gotten this building donated, it never wouldve happened, says Hovermale, whos lived in Hagerstown most of his life and now serves as principal of BISFA. "The operation in this case, I think it's fair to say, dealt with millions of dollars of drugs and proceeds," he said. A handful, with newer haircuts and cars, might be professionalssomewhere in this politically conservative county. DEA agents and partner agencies in Western Maryland are seeing a resurgence of one-pot meth labs in the area -- noting more incidents of meth labs in the area this year than the last 5 years combined. The C&O (Chesapeake and Ohio) Canal, which passes through Washington County and primarily transported coal, was already in operation by then, having been completed in 1850. As the former Supervisor of Visual and Performing Arts for Washington County Public Schools, Rob Hovermale was involved in conversations as early as 2000 about opening a public arts high school in Hagerstowntalks that were largely dismissed at the time. In 2019, there were 119 non-fatal and 24 fatal overdoses reported in Allegany County. Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. TTY users may call any government office through the Maryland Relay Service 1-800-735-2258, Drug Activity Phone Tip Line 301-223-2632. All rights reserved. Christina Boward, two counts of distribution of heroin. Daily, he watches people, mostly in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, selling and scoring drugs in the citys central parking lot behind the gallery. Thats a lot of drugs, Kerns said Wednesday in a phone interview. Rise of a street boss By 1973,. Two additional private methadone treatment centers have since opened in the area, not to mention the Washington County Health Departments outpatient addiction program, which treated more than 11,000 patients between 2013 and its closing this spring due to state budget cuts. Three Hagerstown residents face drug charges after suspected heroin and suspected methamphetamine with a street value of approximately $50,000 was seized along with $9,000 in cash and several. The 30-count indictment alleges the operation trafficked large amounts of heroin, fentanyl, cocaine base and cocaine hydrochloride from Hagerstown to Berkeley County, West Virginia, between. This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. He was taken into custody Tuesday at his Security Road home, Kerns said. According to his guilty plea, on March 18, 2019, law enforcement received an anonymous tip from a Hagerstown, Maryland storage facility customer reporting that an individual driving a large SUV and a storage unit conducted a suspected drug deal at the facility. seventy-five miles west of Baltimore, the sun has yet to rise over South Mountain, but already a line of cars is arriving at the Phoenix Health Center in Hagerstown. Investigators have seized 8.6 kilograms of cocaine, 1.02 kilograms of heroin and 12 ounces of cocaine base. Information for Victims of 1st Million Dollars, LLC. Another resident artist, Anthony Jones Jr., is a recovering cocaine addict and alcoholic who credits artand Engine Roomas part of his salvation, giving him a sense of purpose and allowing him to be creative rather than self-destructive. A locked padlock Its these fast-rolling interstates that carry the deadly opioids, including heroin and fetanyl, flooding Marylands western counties. FBI Fifteen Members of Alleged Drug Ring Arrested From March 20 to April 24, 2019, law enforcement surveilled activity at the suspected unit on a daily basis and observed Smith opening the storage unit to weigh and process suspected narcotics for distribution. 12 arrested in Frederick County drug bust | wusa9.com Still, they are something of a Hail Mary pass for municipalities. I wanted to be in narcotics. (Photos from the Frederick County Sheriff's Office) Their daughter, who grew up playing soccer and basketball, became hooked on pills by 18 and then turned to heroin. Whether these efforts, which remain largely public investmentschools, libraries, parkscan spark enough commercial interest to compete with the Valley Mall, the two Walmart Supercenters, and the Premium Outlets remains to be determined. Brooke died while waiting for insurance approval for a $700 monthly shot of Vivitrol, which reduces cravings and withdrawal symptoms. As stated in his plea agreement, on August 9, 2019, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Smiths Hagerstown, Maryland residence. Low 33F. This was a normal kid, the daughter of a respected ex-city cop. Police seized more than 80 pounds of meth, 200 bags of fentanyl, more than two dozen guns and $135,000 in cash in a massive drug bust in Montgomery County. a shuttered barber shop on Jonathan Street. From March 20 to April 24, 2019, law enforcement surveilled activity at the suspected unit on a daily basis and observed Smith opening the storage unit to weigh and process suspected narcotics for distribution. HAGERSTOWN, Md. Justin Ernest Riggs, 33, was arrested Saturday and is accused of leaking information to a drug trafficking organization . The investigation involved federal, state and local law enforcement agencies includingthe Eastern Panhandle Drug Task Force; the Berkeley and Jefferson County sheriff's offices; the Martinsburg, Charles Town, Ranson and Hagerstown police departments;the Washington County Drug Task Force; West Virginia and Maryland state police; the FBI; the U.S. Then he went from eating it to snorting it. Since the start of the addiction crisis, which now kills more in the U.S. than car accidents and gun violence combined, emergency rescue calls have tripled in Hagerstown. All Rights Reserved. Miguel Angel Santiago Caraballo, 30, of Chambersburg, Pa. (In 2007, three Purdue executives pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the misbranding of OxyContin and paid $34.5 million in fines, while the company agreed to pay $600 million to resolve a Department of Justice investigation.) Stay up to date with the latest community news written by award-winning editors and local reporters. Methadone, he argues, is a drug just like heroin. He found an opiate specialist doctor and took Suboxone for about a year, then safely weaned off. Three Hagerstown residents charged following drug bust - Herald-Mail Media "The drug enterprise run by the defendants involved a sophisticated operation including the use of a purported business to act as a front for drug trafficking and the laundering of hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds," Bernard said in a statement. Smith accessed the storage unit on 39 separate occasions and obtained at least 250 grams of narcotics during his visits. Eight planned downtown catalyst projects include an expanded City Farmers Market and the creation of a cultural trail, part of which has already been implemented. Bernard said agents serveda search warrant at the store in June and seized approximately $500,000 worth of drugs, including a kilogram of heroin and nine kilograms of cocaine. Andre Luther Woolford, 33, of Hurlock, Maryland. February 21, 2023. The team lost its Orioles affiliation in the 1980s when the Os said goodbye to Hagerstown and hello to nearby Frederick. Theyll deliver. While this is small victory for the task force, agents say the communitys drug problem is far from over. As a result of those search warrants, police recovered over 18 kilograms of cocaine, 2.7 kilograms of heroin/fentanyl, 5.9 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, 170 pounds of marijuana and approximately 34 firearms along with money believed to be connected to the drug operation. Police seized drugs, cash and weapons from the residence, Kerns said. -- The number of meth cases, particularly of one-pot meth labs in Western Maryland, has been experiencing a recent surge. A mortality rate increase for any first-world demographic group had been virtually unheard of for decades, with the exception of Russian men after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a phenomenon blamed on soaring alcoholism rates. , Rep. Hoyer on legacy, traditions and Speaker McCarthy, How much more DMV residents will pay for healthcare, Husband of missing DC real estate executive arrested, Virginia H.S. Hagerstown, MD 2 days ago. Smith accessed the storage unit on 39 separate occasions and obtained at least 250 grams of narcotics during his visits. But he moved his family to Pennsylvania a couple years ago, leaving Hagerstown behind. Maryland State Police officer with Hagerstown ties accused of leaking Ozempic Face showing up in Hagerstown? Doctor Explains Washington, D.C. Man Convicted After Nine-Day Trial for Use of a Firearm in Connection with a Murder and a Robbery, and for a Drug Distribution Conspiracy. (DC News Now) The Hagerstown Police Department said officers executed a search and seizure warrant at 115 S. Mulberry St. on Oct. 7, finding fentanyl, crack cocaine, $5,000 cash, and firearms. On at least 30 separate occasions between April 8 and May 8, 2019, Smith visited Tyler Wares residence. Is Hagerstown eating its way to dementia? One of the biggest mistakes city officials made was failing to sufficiantly upgrade Municipal Stadium, the nearly 90-year-old home of the minor league Hagerstown Suns, or build a new ballpark downtown. Drug & alcohol testing in Hagerstown, MD at 2 clinics. It is a cruel twist that Hagerstown, on the receiving end of so much heroin from Baltimore, has such a shortage of addiction specialists that the Wells House, one of the largest outpatient clinics here, utilizes Baltimore doctors via telemedicine to treat its clients. Neither did the Washington County health officer or then-Hagerstown Police Chief Arthur Smith, who questioned the wisdom of opening a methadone clinic in a city that, he claimed, did not have a heroin problem. Kristie Lockhard, a 38-year-old recovering addict volunteering at the event, says when she first started using heroin in 1999, she would drive to Baltimore two or three times a day to buy it. Four people were apprehended, three in relation to the possession of controlled substances, and one on an outstanding warrant. Those kind of manufacturing jobs generally pulled up stakes for cheaper labor in the South or overseas, a trend that has continued. While the most pressing question confronting Hagerstownand other resource-deprived towns in Maryland such as Frostburg, Cumberland, Cambridge, Snow Hill, Elkton, and Edgewoodmay be how to get immediate help to those struggling with addiction, the broader question is more vexing: How does an isolated, blue-collar town recover from the worst drug epidemic in U.S. historyon top of45 years of deindustrialization? The Washington County Narcotics Task Force recovered approximately 188 grams of suspected heroin and 95 grams of suspected methamphetamine Monday from 807 Hamilton Blvd. The state Attorney General's Office announced that 13 people, including a dietary sergeant at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Anne Arundel County, were indicted on charges they. Consider, for example, that three of the four railroad properties on the Monopoly board were spokes in that Hagerstown hub, connecting the city to Richmond, Washington, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New York.