Three charged with selling heroin in Boone County
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Three people have been charged with drug-related felonies in Boone County after allegedly leading police on a chase Monday.
Boone County prosecutors filed felony charges against 41-year-old Tony Barden, 33-year-old Harlequin Harris and 42-year-old Demetrius Young on Tuesday.
Court documents say police were tipped off to alleged heroin distribution going on at the Candlewood Suites Hotel on Monday.
Columbia police say officers were sent to the hotel around 3:20 p.m. and saw Barden, Harris, Young and another man get inside a white SUV.
Barden's probable cause statement said officers tried to pull over the SUV on Interstate 70 eastbound near the Business Loop 70 exit after a police check showed the vehicle didn't have valid registration.
Police say the vehicle kept driving into central Columbia. Barden was seen throwing out a baggie with a white substance from the SUV at West Boulevard and Worley Street, according to documents. Officers said about 3 grams of a grey powdery substance was recovered at the scene.
The court documents say Barden jumped out of the vehicle near Gans Road and Rock Quarry Road and was arrested. Police said Barden had drug paraphernalia and $3,600 in cash inside a backpack.
Officers said the chase continued through Columbia and led back to the hotel. Police said Harris, Young and the other person jumped into a black passenger vehicle and started driving down I-70 Drive S.E. The black car was pulled over in the 3100 block of I-70 Drive S.E. just before 6 p.m., officers said.
According to Young's probable cause statment, he and Harris were seen inside the vehicle. Police say Harris grabbed at his waist and fought with an officer for two minutes before he was arrested.
Officers said drugs were found inside the black car. Room keys for the Candlewood Suites were found after police searched Young and the other man, according to court documents.
Police say more than 100 grams of heroin, drug packaging materials and drug paraphernalia were seized from the hotel and over the course of the investigation.
Harris admitted to selling heroin in the hotel parking lot during police interrogation, documents said.
Online court records say Barden faces a count each of drug trafficking and tampering with physical evidence, Young faces a count of second-degree drug trafficking. The records say Harris also faces a felony count of delivery of a controlled substance.
The court records say bonds for Barden and Young were set at $50,000. Harris was denied bond.
Barden and Harris were still in jail custody as of Wednesday. Young did not appeal on the jail's roster.
