BUCKHANNON – Two north-central West Virginia residents were arrested Friday after allegedly delivering heroin to a man who subsequently died of an overdose.
Michaela Gregory, 24, of Buckhannon, was arrested for drug delivery resulting in death, a felony, and Zane Young, 24, of Norton, was arrested for conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver, both felonies.
According to criminal complaints in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by investigating officer Cpl. Marshall O’Connor with the Buckhannon Police and Mountain Lakes Drug and Violent Crime Unit, on Thursday Nov. 5, police conducted a “buy bust” of Gregory and Young.
The file says that O’Connor determined that on Nov. 3, Gregory had allegedly arranged to deliver nine heroin stamps to Justin Parks for $160, which police believe Parks fatally overdosed on sometime between midnight and 6 a.m. on Nov. 4, 2020.
As the investigation continued, the “officer then assumed the identity of the deceased and arranged for Michaela to deliver heroin after she sent a message asking the deceased if he needed,” O’Connor wrote in the complaint.
The file says when O’Connor responded to the message with “I’ll take,” Gregory responded with two messages stating, “we’re here,” and “where are you?”
O’Connor, posing as Parks, arranged to meet Gregory and Young in the parking lot of Walmart. After pulling up behind Gregory’s vehicle and confirming her registration, O’Connor found Gregory and Young in the vehicle with heroin and more than $700 in cash, the criminal complaint says. He subsequently arrested them.
O’Connor also allegedly obtained messages between Young and the deceased, arranging deliveries of heroin on Nov. 1, 2020. A search of the vehicle yielded approximately one brick – or approximately 50 heroin stamps – located in the passenger-side door and $748 located on the passenger seat. During an interview with Gregory, she admitted to giving Parks the stamps since he was a friend, the file says.
Bail for Young was set at $40,000, and bail was set for Gregory at $250,000.
The potential penalty for a conviction of drug delivery resulting in death is confinement in a state correctional facility for a determinate sentence of not less than three nor more than 15 years.
The potential penalty for a conviction of conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance is confinement in a state correctional facility for a determinate sentence of not less than two and not more than 10 years. The potential penalty for a conviction of possession with intent to deliver is confinement in state correctional facility for a determinate sentence of not less than one and not more than 15 years, a fine of not more than $25,000 or both.
