Police Make Biggest Heroin Bust Ever In Cherokee County: Sheriff

WOODSTOCK, GA — A law enforcement task force seized "the largest amount of heroin at one time in Cherokee County history" in a raid Thursday afternoon at a Woodstock home, the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office announced Friday. Agents with the Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad discovered what the sheriff's office called a “heroin processing facility” in a single-family house on a cul-de-sac off Trickum Road in Woodstock, the sheriff's office said.

After securing the house, the authorities summoned a hazardous materials team to the scene after agents found a large quantity of fentanyl, which can be dangerous when exposed in the open air. The hazmat team is part of Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Services.

The team confirmed there was fentanyl inside the house, and police officers wearing protective gear entered the structure and seized about 1 pound of heroin mixed with fentanyl, 13 ounces of methamphetamine and firearms, according to the sheriff's office.

The two-story house, in the 300 block of Wauchula Way, sits in a neighborhood of single-family homes with manicured lawns. But nobody will be allowed to enter it until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declares the structure to be safe, the sheriff's office said.

An EPA-approved company will have to inspect the house and declare it to be safe for entry, said Jay Baker, a spokesman for the sheriff's office. He said Friday that there was no word on when that will take place.

The task force also arrested Jerome Allen, 26, of Marietta, on a charge of possession of a Schedule 1 narcotic for THC vape pens found in his vehicle, the sheriff's office said. He was being held Friday at the Cherokee Adult Detention Center on a $4,875 bond.

Two individuals who lived at the Wauchula Way house were arrested Thursday in Sandy Springs. Edward Ball, 36, and Katie Marissa Zepeta, 31, are facing drug and weapons charges in Cherokee County, the sheriff's office said.

Both face charges of manufacturing heroin, trafficking heroin and methamphetamine, possession of Xanax, three counts of distribution of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school, and three counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Ball is facing additional charges of selling heroin and two counts of selling methamphetamine.

The arrests Thursday were the culmination of a two-month investigation by the Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad, which includes sheriff's deputies and police officers from Canton, Woodstock, Holly Springs, Ball Ground and the Georgia State Patrol.

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