DEALER-IN-TRAINING BUST
Suspect: 2,000 bags help pay bills
A 28-year-old Chicopee man nabbed with more than 2,000 bags of heroin marked “Training Day” and nearly 100 Oxycodone pills told investigators he was only selling drugs “for a couple of months to get by with bills,” police say.
Darnell Clayton told Chicopee cops serving a search warrant at an Elcon Drive home Wednesday morning that the thousands of bags of heroin and opioid pills were his and not his girlfriend’s — and that despite the nearly $3,000 cops found in a backpack, he only had about four or five customers.
“Clayton stated that everything was in the closet in a shoe box and that it was all his and his girlfriend has nothing to do with it,” police wrote in their report.
In addition to the nearly 2,200 bags of “Training Day” heroin, the search of Clayton’s home — which was a joint operation involving Chicopee police and members of the Hampden County Narcotics Task Force — also uncovered 90 Oxycodone pills, court documents show.
Prior to the raid, police say Clayton sold drugs to police informants during three “controlled buys,” according to his police report.
It was during an interview at the Chicopee police station that Clayton told investigators that he’s “selling heroin for a couple of months to get by with bills,” and was a small-time crook with only four or five customers.
Clayton pleaded not guilty in Chicopee District Court Wednesday to charges including heroin trafficking and committing a drug violation near a school or park.
He was ordered held on $50,000 bail.
His attorney, Deb Roberge, said although she represented Clayton during his arraignment, she doesn’t expect to represent him as the case moves forward.
Chicopee police spokesman officer Michael Wilk said tracking down heroin dealers has been prioritized by his department as a way of combating the opioid epidemic.
“Our narcotics officers, we work hard to find these dealers, and make these arrests and get this stuff off the street,” Wilk told the Herald yesterday. “The more we can confiscate, the more dealers we can arrest, we understand that it will help save lives. That’s our goal to save lives and to get this stuff off the street.”