BUCKHANNON – A Clarksburg man was arrested over the weekend for allegedly possessing a brick of heroin, hundreds of heroin stamps and about $900.
Jo-el Rene Torres, 35, was arrested Saturday, May 1, for possession with intent to deliver heroin and conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance, both felonies.
According to the criminal complaint in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by investigating officer Task Force Officer Marshall O’Connor with the Buckhannon Police Department, the arrest occurred when Mountain Lakes Drug and Violent Crime Task Force served a search warrant at a residence on Blossom Lane in Buckhannon.
The complaint says that upon searching Torres, an officer with the task force allegedly found a brick of heroin stuffed down his pants. Torres was the driver of the vehicle that he was sitting in when officers arrived, the file says.
In addition, officers allegedly found $900 in cash wrapped up in a rubber band on the driver’s side floorboard. Torres stated he would “take blame” for everything in the vehicle, O’Connor wrote in the complaint. Also located in vehicle was a black toboggan with hundreds of heroin stamps and two additional clutch coin purses filled with stamps of heroin, the file says.
Magistrate Mike Coffman set bail at $100,000 cash or surety.
The penalty for a conviction of possession with intent to deliver is confinement for not less than one year nor more than 15 years, a fine of not more than $25,000 or both. Torres could also face a penalty of not less than two years nor more than 15 in a state correctional facility for a determinate sentence for conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance.
The Mountain Lakes Drug and Violent Crime Task Force unit is comprised of the West Virginia State Police, Upshur County Sheriff’s Department, Buckhannon Police Department, Braxton County Sheriff’s Department and Lewis County Sheriff’s Department.
