Narcotics officers in the Northeast are developing a heroin habit.
For the third time in seven weeks, members of the Philadelphia Police Department’s Narcotics Field Unit North raided a local home allegedly used by heroin dealers to stash, package and distribute their illicit commodity.
In the July 18 raid, officers arrested four men and seized about 709 grams of the drug valued at $233,867, along with $6,437 cash, from the house at 7201 Erdrick St., which is just south of Cottman Avenue in Tacony.
Officer Charles Myers and members of the Narcotics Field Unit have spent several months investigating the Perez Dominican Drug Trafficking Organization, which has been supplying heroin to street corners in the city’s East Division, in the Bartram Village section of Southwest Philly and at 27th and Dickinson streets in the Grays Ferry section of South Philly, according to Sgt. Bob Friel.
During the investigation, police began tracking Edwin Hidalgo-Perez, 24, who was wanted on an unrelated vehicular homicide charge.
On July 18, officers were monitoring the Erdrick Street residence and allegedly saw Hidalgo-Perez exit the property with three other men and enter a 2009 Acura sedan. Police stopped the car, arrested Hidalgo-Perez and seized a “large” but unspecified amount of cash from him, Friel said.
They detained the other men and obtained a search warrant for the house. Inside, officers allegedly found the heroin in bulk, as well as the aforementioned cash, along with packaging materials, “label” stamps with the names “Kill Bill” and “Bitch,” grinding devices and other drug paraphernalia.
Police arrested Sthalin Hidalgo-Perez, 25, of the 4900 block of Penn St.; Hector Cruz Crespo Luiz, 24, of the 3000 block of Collins St.; and Johnathan Melendez, 23, of the 5900 block of Erdrick St.
All four suspects were charged with drug possession, drug possession with intent to deliver, possessing drug paraphernalia and conspiracy.
On July 5, Narcotics Field Unit North officers arrested two men and seized $38,000 worth of heroin at a home on the 6400 block of Everett St. On May 31, the same police unit arrested five men and seized $435,000 worth of heroin at a home on the 1500 block of Stoney Lane in Bustleton. ••
