Vehicle halted; heroin seized

Two New York City men were arrested and two north country people are under investigation as a result of heroin being seized Thursday evening during a vehicle stop on Interstate 81 in the town of Ellisburg.

According to the Metro-Jeff Drug Task Force, a passenger in the auto, Harry Roland Jr., 21, Brooklyn, was found with 160 packets of heroin in his coat pocket. The substance has a street value of $4,800, a narcotics detective said.

Mr. Roland was arrested on a charge of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, and was taken to the Metro-Jefferson Public Safety Building under $25,000 bail, set by town of Watertown Justice James P. McClusky.

Another passenger, Rhashay R. Whitfield, 28, Bronx, was arrested on a parole violation and was jailed without bail. He was released on parole in March 2009 after serving about three years for fifth-degree criminal sale of a controlled sentence, for which he was convicted in Jefferson County.

The driver, Cinnamon C. Desormeau, 28, Bombay, was charged with speeding at 76 mph, the investigator said. Her husband, Shawn M. Desormeau, 29, Watertown, who also was a passenger, was not charged, but additional charges are pending as the investigation continues, the investigator said.

Mrs. Desormeau was indicted recently in St. Lawrence County on a scheme to defraud charge, and Mr. Desormeau has action pending in Jefferson County on charges of grand larceny and scheme to defraud, lodged in October.

The vehicle stop was conducted by a Jefferson County deputy sheriff.

The detective said heroin was "almost with certainty headed for Watertown."

He could not confirm that it was coming from New York City, but "the bulk of hard drugs that we are finding are coming from there."