Undercover cops arrest woman on drug charges

staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — Police said a Bennington Avenue woman apparently didn’t realize the two men she flagged down on Atkinson Avenue were undercover police officers driving an unmarked car.

The officers said they were westbound on Atkinson around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when Cheryl E. Richard, 37, flagged them down and offered to sell them crack cocaine.

While the officers waited, Richard ran to a house in the 1700 block of Atkinson and returned with what the officers described as a large rock of suspected crack cocaine.

They argued over the price, and, when Richard agreed to $20, one of the officers handed her that amount and then promptly placed her under arrest.

The officers said Richard failed to notice that one of them was wearing black gloves with the word “police” printed across the knuckles.

Richard was in Mahoning County jail to await arraignment on charges of trafficking in crack cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia. The officers said she had a crack pipe in her pants pocket.