Man indicted for selling heroin

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday accuses a man of selling heroin several times over a four-month period within 1,000 feet of an East Side school.

James E. Ward, 35, faces one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin within 1,000 feet of a school, and eight counts of distribution of heroin within 1,000 feet of a school.

Ward is accused of selling heroin near the Youngstown Academy of Excellence at Jackson and Rigby streets between Oct. 12, 2016, and Jan. 20, 2017.

The indictment was first issued Feb. 6 by a grand jury seated in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio and unsealed Wednesday after Ward was taken into custody. He is expected to be arraigned today before U.S. Magistrate Judge George Limbert.

According to the indictment, Ward would meet someone identified as “Supplier 1,” in court documents at the supplier’s home on Jackson Street.

Ward would go inside the home and get heroin and in turn would sell it to people outside, including an undercover federal officer and a confidential source. Ward would then pocket some of the money, some of the heroin, or both, according to the indictment.