Large Heroin Ring That Stretched Through 4 Counties Broken Up
JOHNSTOWN (KDKA) -- From the outside, it's a modest little apartment in Johnstown. But it's inside where police say a huge heroin operation was centered.
Police seized a quarter million dollars' worth of heroin, $5,000 in cash, guns and more.
"We took out the head of this snake and a lot of people were feeding off that snake," Cambria County District Attorney Kelly Callihan said.
It was a heroin operation that stretched its addictive grip into four counties - Cambria, Somerset, Indiana and Blair. Police say they were selling about $100,000 of the white powder every week.
"This is the largest heroin operation that I've seen, or we've seen, as far as what we seized and what we were able to track as far as what they were distributing," said Detective Kevin Price, of the Cambria County Drug Task Force.
Three people were arrested, including alleged kingpin James "Pimp" Kendrick.
Now law enforcement officials are concerned about the desperation of drug addicts who are trying to feed their habit.
"Be aware, lock your cars, homes, and be aware of what's going on around you," one official said."Hopefully, it won't be a big problem, but any time you take out an operation this big, people need to find other means to feed their habit."
The Cambria County Drug Task Force had been tracking this operation for three years.
They say they've been hard to catch, since the suspects frequently changed apartments and cell phones.
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