Heroin problem in Clarion, Pa., traced to Youngstown area

Staff report

Clarion, Pa.

Youngstown traffickers are playing a big role in supplying Clarion County, Pa., with heroin, but law enforcement has made some headway against them, the Clarion County District Attorney’s Office says.

District Attorney Mark Aaron said Friday that progress has been made with two previous arrests and a pending arrest, all of people who live in the Youngstown area.

Michelle Burkes and Jawonn Hymes, whose ages and addresses were unavailable Friday, were arrested in March and charged with delivery of heroin, Aaron said.

He said the two are in jail in Mahoning County. The county jail has no record of them.

A third person, Terrence Rushton, age and address unavailable, has not yet been arrested. There is a warrant out for his arrest on a charge of delivery of heroin, Aaron said.

Two former Youngstown area residents, Michael Ratliff of Leeper, Pa., and Robert Thurston of Shippenville, Pa., had moved to Clarion County to sell heroin, Aaron’s office said. Ratliff was sentenced in March to four to eight years in prison. Thurston was sentenced in February to 21/2 to five years in prison.

Drug enforcement task forces in Clarion and Mahoning counties are working together to stop the traffickers, Aaron said.