Man and woman face drug charges

Staff report

WARREN

A grand jury has indicted a man and woman from Homewood Avenue Southeast on a heroin-possession charge that accuses each of being a “major drug offender” that could add to their prison time, if convicted.

Fred D. Johnson, 39, and Brandi L. Purbaugh, 26, both of 714 Homewood, were indicted on the charge this week in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Johnson also was indicted on charges of cocaine possession, tampering with evidence, being a felon in possession of a firearm and failure to comply with the orders of a police officer. Purbaugh also was indicted on charges of cocaine possession and tampering with evidence.

Johnson and Purbaugh were arrested by agents with the Trumbull Ashtabula Law Enforcement Task Force on Jan. 16 after an investigation indicated that Ryan Freeman, 30, of Front Street Southwest, a suspended corrections officer for the Mahoning County jail, was accessing information about Johnson on a law-enforcement database at his home while Johnson and Purbaugh were present.

Police apprehended Johnson and Purbaugh after a car and foot chase in Warren, during which police say they dropped heroin and cocaine in a yard.