Police allege three apartments within a six-family house at 1 Holbrook Place were being used to sell painkillers such as Oxycodone.
Four people were arrested on drug charges after cops raided the apartments at 5:15 a.m. Wednesday (Feb. 20).
Lt. Andrew Cota said his department’s Anti-Crime Unit launched an investigation about three or four months ago after people in the neighborhood reported suspicious activity at the apartment house.
“These arrests were a direct result of information from neighbors who said there was a lot of foot traffic and a lot of car traffic going to the area. Cars were stopping, were there a very short time, then leaving,” Cota said. “That put it on the radar for us and we started to investigate.”
Police said they sent undercover officers to buy pills from the people who were arrested.
Two of the four people arrested lived together in a first-floor apartment. The other two people lived in separate apartments on the second and third floors.
“They were more or less working in conjunction with each other,” Cota said. “If you couldn’t get what you were looking for on the first floor, you’d go up to the second floor. Or the second floor person would come downstairs, take your order and go back up to the third floor. They were working together, this group.”
How they ended up all living in the same apartment house is not known, Cota said.
“I don’t know how they knew each other and whether their plan was to start working there initially,” Cota said. “I can’t say it’s a common setup. What we are seeing is people who are selling pills know other people. So if they don’t have a supply they’re sending the buyers to others they know.”
Police think the suspects obtained prescriptions from various doctors.
After cops made controlled drug buys, they convinced a judge to sign arrest warrants. In addition to the charges in the warrant, the suspects faced additional charges after police raided the apartments and allegedly found pills.
The illegal sale of prescription pills is a growing trend, Cota said.
“It’s the new thing everywhere — people getting prescriptions and selling them. It’s mostly Oxycodone and things like that. The painkillers. They’re very powerful,” Cota said.
Ansonia police received assistance from officers in Derby, Shelton, West Haven and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.
Debra Winkler, 50, was charged with two counts of sale of prescription drugs and two counts of conspiracy to commit the sale of prescription drugs, according to police. Those charges are connected to a search warrant obtained during the course of a police investigation.
Winkler also picked up fresh charges Wednesday of possession of narcotics, sale of prescription drugs, and failure to keep drugs in the original container. The additional charges stemmed from the findings of the search warrant, police said.
Winkler was arraigned Thursday at Superior Court in Derby, where she was ordered held in lieu of bonds totaling $30,000 and her cases were continued to March 20.
Winkler lived in the same apartment as Michael Servidio, 42. He was charged with sale of narcotics, conspiracy to sell narcotics, conspiracy to possess narcotics, possession of narcotics and failing to keep narcotics in the original container.
At Servidio’s arraignment Thursday, a judge set bonds totaling $12,500 and continued his cases to March 20.
Michelle Cuevas, 44, is charged with two counts of the sale of prescription drugs and two counts of failing to keep prescription drugs in an original container. Those charges stem from the undercover drug buys.
She picked up two new charges after cops raided her second-floor apartment — failing to keep prescription drugs in an original container and possession with intent to sell.
Cuevas was also arraigned Thursday at Superior Court in Derby, where her bonds were set at $30,000 and her cases were continued to March 20.
Kevin Grandy, 25, was charged with sale of narcotics, conspiracy to sell narcotics, conspiracy to possess narcotics, possession of narcotics, and failing to keep narcotics in the original container.
He posted a $20,000 bond and is due in court March 6.
