Drug Raid Nets Another Heroin Arrest

BRAIDWOOD, IL — Local police and federal agents raided a Braidwood apartment and made another heroin arrest Friday night.

Michael Medina, 37, was caught with 33.4 grams of heroin at his Reed Street home, police said.

Braidwood police and Drug Enforcement Administration agents, with assistance from the Wilmington police and the Will County Sheriff’s Department hit the apartment after obtaining a search warrant.

Medina has been arrested on narcotics charges twice prior in the last five and a half years, according to county records.

Medina’s latest arrest came just two weeks after a teenage couple was taken into custody for allegedly dealing heroin out of a Braidwood motel room.

Just a week before the arrest of the young couple — Anthony Alvarez, 18, of Essex and Tabatha Powell, 19, of Dwight — the Braidwood police raided a house and took three people into custody on drug charges. Jonathon Kincade, 26, Danita Morgan, 39, and Zachary Connor, 27, all were jailed on charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Police reportedly seized heroin, numerous needles, bags containing heroin residue and vials of an unknown substance that was sent to a crime lab for testing.

Morgan and Connor are supposed to get married next month but he is still stuck in jail.

Braidwood Police Chief Nick Ficarello said the recent surge in heroin enforcement has been at the direction of the town’s mayor.

“We’re just following an initiative created by Mayor Jim Vehrs to deal with the problem,” Ficarello said.

In addition to heroin, police reportedly seized a diluting compound, a mixer and packaging material during the raid on Medina’s apartment.