Cops find pound of heroin, arrest 75-year-old woman

March 25, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Police say they found about $100,000 worth of suspected heroin while serving a search warrant Wednesday at a North Side home.

Additionally, a 75-year-old woman they arrested there, Ada Irby, 75, was described in search warrants as the person who was selling drugs out of the home.

Irby is in the Mahoning County jail on charges of possession of marijuana, possession of cocaine and possession of heroin. The amount of heroin found was so large that the heroin charge she faces is a first-degree felony, the highest level of felony in Ohio.

She was arrested about 5 p.m. Wednesday by members of the vice squad serving a search warrant investigating drug activity. She is expected to be arraigned in municipal court today.

Reports said there also was a large amount of suspected marijuana found at the home as well and a small amount of suspected cocaine. A revolver was found in a grill in the back yard, reports said.

Lt. Gerard Slattery, head of the vice squad, said about a pound of suspected heroin was found in the home. He said the heroin had yet to be “cut,” or diluted to increase the amount of the drug before it is sold.

Slattery also said that Irby matched the description of the person selling drugs from the home when officers typed up an affidavit for the search warrant.

A search of court records shows no charges filed at the common-pleas level against her and two misdemeanors in municipal court for housing and animal violations.

Also Wednesday, vice officers who were on patrol about 1:05 p.m. arrested Gene Myers, 65, of Flo Lor Drive, on a charge of possession of heroin after a car he was riding in was pulled over at Glenwood Avenue and Canfield Road for an improper turn.

Reports said Myers was in the back seat but had to get out of the car because the driver has a suspended license and it was going to be towed. Myers agreed to allow police to search him and they found two needles in his pants pocket and two doses of suspected heroin in his wallet, reports said.

Myers was arrested on charges of possession of heroin and possession of a drug-abuse instrument. On the way to the jail he complained of chest pains and said he has had heart trouble in the past. An ambulance was called to meet police, and Myers was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, where a police hold was placed on him.