BERLIN — Two local women were arrested on heroin possession charges last week after Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officers tracked them from a known purchase area in Selbyville and pulled them over in the area of Routes 113 and 589.
Some OCPD officers are routinely sworn in as fully-vested law enforcement officers with the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, giving Ocean City Narcotics Unit officers full powers in the county. Last Thursday, OCPD narcotics detectives were working with the Criminal Enforcement Team conducting proactive enforcement targeting individuals obtaining and using heroin and bringing it back to Maryland.
Around 2:30 p.m. last Thursday, OCPD narcotics detectives observed a black Nissan Altima with Maryland registration turn onto Polly Branch Road in Selbyville in an area that has been known for years as an open-air drug market where people obtain heroin. The officers observed the vehicle turn down one of the streets in the area where individuals are known to sell heroin and it remained down there for a short period of time.
According to police reports, the officers observed an unidentified male approach the Nissan and engage the driver for about a minute before it left the area.
OCPD narcotics detectives followed the Nissan southbound on Route 113 and into Worcester County. When the vehicle reached the area of Route 113 and Route 589, the officers activated their lights and affected a traffic stop. The officers approached the vehicle and identified the front seat passenger as Patricia Adams, 57, of Ocean City. Adams was asked to step out of the vehicle and, according to police reports, was cooperative as she exited the vehicle.
The officer told Adams they had witnessed her purchase what they believed to be heroin along Polly Branch Road in Selbyville. After a brief pause, Adams told police she and the driver, identified as Karen Lee Goff, 60, of Berlin, went to Selbyville to purchase two bundles of heroin. Adams told police she had the heroin on her person in the groin area of her pants and produced the heroin and gave it the officer.
Another officer interviewed Goff. When Goff was told the OCPD detectives had witnessed her purchase what they believed was heroin at the known drug corridor in Selbyville, Goff was also cooperative and allegedly told police “yes we did and my friend has it.”
A subsequent search of Goff’s purse turned up a short plastic straw known by law enforcement as a means by which to snort heroin. Both Adams and Goff were charged with possession of CDS-not marijuana. Trial dates for both suspects have been set for June 2.
