Man Charged With Distributing Heroin That Caused Tuscaloosa Overdose Death Surrenders

BIRMINGHAM -- Two more defendants among 49 indicted in federal court for distributing heroin have turned themselves in to authorities following a Monday law enforcement roundup, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Clay A. Morris.

One of the men who surrendered Tuesday is HAROLD DONNELL MIMS, 31, of Birmingham, whose drug distribution charges include that he sold heroin on Feb. 21 and that "death resulted from the use of said heroin." The charge is related to the death of a 28-year-old man at a Tuscaloosa apartment complex.

The second defendant who surrendered on heroin distribution charges Tuesday is TERRANCE DESHAWN JOHNSON, 34, also of Birmingham.

Mims' and Johnson's arrests bring to 42 the number of defendants now in custody as part of a months-long Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force operation to take heroin dealers off the streets. Seven defendants still are being pursued. One of those seven also is charged with selling heroin that caused a death. That case is related to the death of a 20-year-old University of Alabama student in Tuscaloosa.

The operation is part of a larger multi-agency Heroin Initiative launched early last year to attack the supply side of the growing heroin problem in the Northern District of Alabama. Multiple federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are involved in the ongoing initiative.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges. It is the government's responsibility to prove a defendant's guilt, beyond a shadow of a doubt, at trial.

*NOTE: The total number of defendants in the roundup has been revised from 50 to 49.