NORFOLK — A federal grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday charging a Virginia Beach man with conspiracy, maintaining a drug-involved premises, and possession of heroin with intent to distribute.
According to allegations in the indictment, criminal complaint and related court-documents, Demetress Bratton, 37, was arrested in March 2018 attempting to access his storage unit in Virginia Beach. Earlier that day, a Virginia Beach Police drug dog gave a positive alert for drugs at the storage unit, and a search warrant was obtained.
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During the search, detectives recovered two bags of an off-white substance that were sitting on a hydraulic press. One of the bags contained roughly 37 grams of heroin, and the other contained roughly 55 grams of a cutting agent used to increase the amount of heroin, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Detectives also recovered a money counter, a Gucci bag containing $20,000 cash, two handguns, two rifles, and several cellphones. Later, when Bratton arrived at his storage unit and was arrested, law enforcement recovered $1,663 cash and bags of heroin and a cutting agent from his vehicle, prosecutors said.
If convicted, Bratton faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison.
