Police rounded up dozens of suspects Tuesday in the second Blair County drug sweep in less than a month.
"The other one was more pills, and this one was more heroin," said Agent James Walstrom, of the state Attorney General's Bureau of Narcotics Investigation, comparing the sweep to that of Nov. 20, when 37 alleged dealers were targeted.
Walstrom said both operations came about from different investigations, the latest going back six months, and happened to culminate with arrests at about the same time.
By late afternoon, 39 of the 48 suspects sought by police were in custody, police said.
The bust of street-level dealers, some already in Blair County Prison on related drug charges, included convicted killer Marvis "Murder" Boyd, 30, of Newark, N.J., Altoona police Detective Sgt. Troy Johannides said.
Boyd, who police said was convicted of murder in New Jersey as a juvenile, is accused of selling 10 packets of heroin to a police informant Sept. 12 on the 1200 block of Howard Avenue, records show.
Most of the suspects are Altoona residents, but police investigations also pulled in people from other Blair County communities, including Hollidaysburg, Claysburg and Martinsburg.
Packaged in wax packets stamped with names such as Lion Share, YOLO and Cuse, heroin was bought up by police and informants during the investigation, leading to more heroin suspects than in recent drug sweeps.
"Heroin is, unfortunately, making its way back," said Johannides, who stressed that even with the number of heroin arrests, it appears as if the flow of drugs into Blair County has slowed since the arrest of Stephen and Kenneth Piner last year.
"I'm optimistic we're actually making a bigger dent," Johannides said.
Cerone "Snoop" Dunbar, 27, of 1010 18th Ave., stands accused of selling both cocaine and heroin, including the alleged sale of a quarter-ounce of cocaine in September.
On Sept. 25, Dunbar allegedly sold a police informant 7 grams of cocaine for $350. Four days earlier, Dunbar allegedly supplied the informant with 100 packets of heroin for $1,000. Those packets, police noted, were fatter than usual heroin packets and Dunbar allegedly supplied the informant with more heroin until police arrested Dunbar on Oct. 2 after an alleged delivery near Altoona Regional.
Dunbar had a small child along for the ride when he made a final delivery of 35 packets of heroin for $300 and picked up $900 for heroin he had already delivered to the informant, police said.
Magisterial District Judges Paula Aigner and Craig Ormsby handled the arraignments. Preliminary hearings are slated for Dec. 21.
Mirror Staff Writer Greg Bock is at 946-7458.
