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Woman says police stopped her from using heroin
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A woman arraigned in municipal court Friday on a felony charge of possession of heroin told a magistrate she was arrested before she could use the drug.
Magistrate Anthony Sertick set bond at $5,000 for Nicole Haynes, 26, of East High Avenue, who was arrested after a traffic stop about 2:20 p.m. on the Himrod Avenue Expressway.
Haynes told Sertick that she is a “stay-at-home mom” with three children she supports by herself. She told police when she was arrested she had relapsed and started using heroin again.
Sertick told Haynes he was concerned because she had admitted to police she was relapsing, but Haynes said she never took the drug.
“They arrested me before I could use it,” she said via video hookup from the Mahoning County jail.
Assistant Cty Prosecutor Shelli Freeze asked for a bond of $7,500, because Haynes told the judge when he appointed her a lawyer she had no job, no car, no savings or checking account and gets by on a Social Security check every month.
Haynes said she has a great “support system,” and that several people, including a pastor, stop by every day at her home to help her.
“They’re trying to get me into a job and day care for my kids,” Haynes said.
Haynes has no prior record in municipal court. Mahoning County Common Pleas Court records show an assault charge in January in county court in Sebring was dismissed and in 2007 she pleaded no contest and was found guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct in county court in Canfield. She originally was charged with domestic violence, according to court records.
Freeze said Haynes also had some prior arrests in Beaver Township, Pa.