Photo: Jamey Darren Roof
One of the men swept up in the arrest of drug dealers in and around Izard County is familiar to Baxter County law enforcement.
Fifty-six-year-old Jamey Darren Roof of Mountain Home is listed as one of those involved.
Roof and the others were served warrants Tuesday based on a federal indictment, according to a news release from the Izard County Sheriff’s Office.
The investigation leading to the arrests this week stems from the fentanyl overdose death of an Izard County man earlier this year.
Izard County Chief Deputy Charley Melton says it was the “first time we have been able to directly link a dealer to the death of another person.”
The dealer who allegedly sold fentanyl to the man who overdosed was 64-year-old Michael David Mullins Sr., also known as “Slick,” of Highland.
In addition to other charges, Mullins is accused of distributing drugs resulting in death.
In Baxter County, Roof has been charged in criminal cases stretching back to 1998.
His most recent arrest came last May, when officers conducted a compliance visit on a probationer.
The lawmen found the probationer, his girlfriend, Roof and another man at the residence along State Highway 5 South.
Roof tried to run, but didn’t make it and was found hiding in a bathroom at the rear of the residence.
A significant quantity of methamphetamine was located, along with what was described as a “production line” where multiple people would process marijuana for sale.
In addition to the drugs, officers found small plastic bags, digital scales, and other items used in the processing and packaging of both methamphetamine and marijuana for delivery.
Various items of paraphernalia used in the ingestion of drugs – including smoking pipes and syringes – were also located.
A rifle was also found in the residence. All four people arrested were convicted felons and not allowed to be around firearms.
When Roof reached the Baxter County Detention Center, he was found to have a small plastic bag of methamphetamine concealed in his rectum.
Roof is charged with possessing drugs and drug paraphernalia, simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, being a felon in possession of a firearm and bringing the methamphetamine into the jail.
The simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms is a Class Y felony, the most serious classification of crime in Arkansas not punishable by the death penalty.
After the Baxter County charges were filed, Roof pled not guilty. He then went on the run for about five months.
Roof is now an inmate in the Baxter County jail.
His jury trial is set for late next month in Baxter County Circuit Court.
In late August, Roof and another man arrested in the drug dealer sweep Tuesday — 34-year-old Richard Kyle Cohn of Calico Rock — were found in possession of drugs when they were stopped for a minor traffic offense on State Highway 9 just outside Oxford.
The drugs mentioned in the probable cause affidavit were heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana.
Cohn was alleged to have had 100 bundles, weighing a total of almost 92 grams, of what he claimed was heroin hidden on his body.
Roof and Cohn said they had driven out of state to buy the drugs to “import” into Izard County.
The substance Cohn told officers was heroin tested positive for the presence of fentanyl.
Heroin and fentanyl are often confused, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Heroin is derived from a natural substance removed from the seed of the opium poppy plant.
Fentanyl is a manmade opioid with a slightly different chemical structure than heroin.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) says fentanyl is 50-100 times more potent than morphine.
The CDC points out that users often believe they have pure heroin when they actually have fentanyl or heroin mixed with fentanyl.
In their statement to police following the traffic stop, both Roof and Cohn claimed to be heroin users and said they have been abusing the drug for some time.
Roof said that he sometimes mixed his heroin with methamphetamine “to keep from passing out.”
Cohn said he had been a heroin addict for about two years. He said he started using drugs after returning from Iraq and being diagnosed with PTSD.
Cohn told investigators he had made about four trips out of state to buy heroin to bring back to Izard County.
He said friends had been telling him he was going to be caught, but because of his addiction, he could not stop.
Roof is due in Izard County Circuit Court Dec. 22 in the traffic stop case.
Previously, Roof had been approved for the services of a public defender.
However, Judge Tim Weaver ruled on Nov. 19 that if Roof was able to post a $35,000 bond, he could afford to hire his own attorney.
The public defender was allowed to withdraw from the case.
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