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May 6, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Two Pittsburgh Residents Arrested On Heroin Charges

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA — Two Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, residents were arrested today on charges contained in a Criminal Complaint.

United States Attorney Sharon L. Potter announced that TOMEZ LUKE FAULKNER, age 22, and DARRYL RAYMOND KYLES, age 26, were charged in a Criminal Complaint with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute heroin on May 1, 2009, in Ohio County, West Virginia.

The Affidavit filed today in support of the Criminal Complaint states that on May 1, 2009, as law enforcement officers approached the defendants to make an arrest at an arranged location off of Exit 11 on Interstate 70, KYLES jumped the guardrail and fled on foot into the woods traveling northeast and FAULKNER was detained in the parking lot. KYLES was later apprehended by law enforcement officers. Both FAULKNER and KYLES were detained at that time. The conspiracy involved approximately 10 bricks of heroin with a street value of $5,000.

According to USA Potter, FAULKNER and KYLES had an initial appearance today before Magistrate Judge James E. Seibert and were detained pending a detention and preliminary hearing scheduled for Monday, May 11, 2009, at 2:30 p.m.

The charge in the Criminal Complaint carries a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment and a fine of $1,000,000.

The case will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Randolph J. Bernard and John C. Parr. The case was investigated by the Ohio Valley Drug & Violent Crime Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from uniformed officers with the Ohio County Sheriff’s Department.

The Task Force consists of officers from the Wheeling Police Department, the Ohio County Sheriff’s Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

It should be noted that the charges contained in the Criminal Complaint are merely accusations and not evidence of guilt, and that each defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.