3 charged after handto-hand drug deal

TORRINGTON » Three local residents were arrested last week after officers saw them engage in a hand-to-hand drug transaction, according to city police.

Brian J. Bingham, 42, of no certain address, Torrington; Meghan Sullivan, 37, of 39 Prospect St., Torrington; and Justin Kassinger, 27, of 37 Farnham Ave., first apartment, Torrington, were arrested July 14, according to police.

An officer was dispatched to South Main Street at roughly 6:39 p.m. after a Torrington detective had reported seeing a hand-tohand drug transaction take place, according to a probable case report.

While traveling to the location, the officer saw a white man in camouflage clothing that matched a description police had been given. This man was identified as Brian Bingham, who had been released from police custody just an hour earlier. He had previously been arrested and charged with possession of heroin, police said.

“Bingham said that he had no idea why I was stopping him. Bingham went on to admit using (h)eroin just a few minutes prior to leaving (the South Main Street address) but said he never gave anyone ‘drugs,’” wrote the officer in the report.

Bingham was identified by the detective as the person who had sold narcotics and he was arrested.

Sullivan and Kassinger were later identified as the people who bought the heroin, according to the report. They were found to be in possession of 16 wax bags containing a substance later identified as heroin.

Bingham was charged with sale of certain illegal drugs and possession of narcotics, police said. He was held in lieu of $25,000 surety bail and scheduled to appear in Bantam Superior Court on July 17.

He was later found to have held heroin within a bodily orifice, police said, which was found in his holding cell. This prompted the possession charge.

Sullivan and Kassinger were each charged with possession of narcotics, according to police, and released on promises to appear. They were scheduled to appear in Bantam court July 24.

Bingham was charged with sale of certain illegal drugs and possession of narcotics, police said.