Members of a heroin ring used parking lots in Monroeville to sell the drug wholesale between June and March, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday.
Police arrested five people and confiscated more than 1,000 bricks of heroin Sunday, based on a Drug Enforcement Administration affidavit by Special Agent Scott Smith.
A DEA spokesperson couldn't be reached for comment.
Those charged in the case include Anthony Hester Sr., 44, of Plum, Jaron McKinney, 22, of Verona and Aaron Johnson, 21, of Wilkinsburg, according the U.S. Attorney's Office and court documents. McKinney goes by "Young Boy" and "Ron," according to prosecutors.
Two others charged are Russell Fluker, 46, of Newark, N.J., and Natonya Huff, 39, of Montclair, N.J., according to prosecutors.
Smith's affidavit says the investigation started with a former courier for a New Jersey-based heroin ring who, in December 2008, carried two duffle bags containing $450,000 from Pittsburgh to New Jersey. That month, he returned to Pittsburgh with two trash bags filled with 3,000 bricks of heroin, the affidavit says.
Each brick contains about 50 doses of heroin.
Investigators believe the courier delivered one bag to Hester and the other to a man they haven't identified, according to the affidavit. A confidential source told investigators the ring frequently used the Red Lobster parking lot in Monroeville to exchange bricks of heroin for money.
Police surveillance of that lot and the Miracle Mile shopping center captured several meetings in 2009 and 2010 between the suspects, according to the affidavit. Police believe the meetings were used to provide samples and then exchange drugs for money.
When they executed seven search warrants, police found about 1,000 bricks of heroin with Fluker and Huff in their hotel room at the Extended Stay of America on Northern Pike and in a maroon Suzuki with New Jersey plates parked outside, according to the affidavit.
A search of Hester's Plum home turned up a brick of heroin, and a search of Johnson's Wilkinsburg residence turned up 13 bricks of heroin, according to the affidavit. The search of McKinney's Verona home turned up 30 bricks of heroin and a stolen handgun.
Court records show the suspects were in custody, pending preliminary hearings.
