Bogus drugs bring prison term
A Pittsburgh man was sentenced to state prison in Butler County Court on Thursday, after being charged alongside a Butler County woman with selling counterfeit drugs.
Tyrone M. Higgins, 35, was sentenced to 15 to 45 months in state prison by President Judge Thomas Doerr. He was also ordered to pay court costs and a $100 fine, and was granted 346 days' time served credit.
Higgins apologized during the proceeding, saying “this is the first time I've ever been in Butler County, and the last time.”
Higgins pleaded guilty April 11 to felony conspiracy to commit possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance and misdemeanor false identification.
He was also initially charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, which was dismissed as part of the plea, after an incident at a Butler Township motel on Route 8 on May 23.
Butler Township police charged Higgins and Kashmir M. Wissinger, 27, of Butler, after police say the two were found with counterfeit drugs.
Police said Wissinger's car was found in a Butler Township motel parking lot on Route 8. When the officer ran the vehicle's license plate, it was found that Wissinger was wanted by state parole authorities.
The investigation revealed that she had checked into a room with two men, and when police entered, they found Higgins and Wissinger inside.
In Wissinger's purse police turned up 12 stamp bags containing what they thought was heroin and a baggie containing suspected cocaine, as well as 353 empty stamp bags, eight syringes and other drug contraband, police said.
A book bag in Wissinger's room had additional contraband, including 19 empty stamp bags. Both Wissinger and Higgins denied the book bag was theirs.
Later at the police station, court documents said, Wissinger admitted the suspected heroin was not heroin, but cocoa and baking soda, and that Higgins was packaging it and selling it to “rip people off,” according to a police affidavit.
Police said they eventually determined that Higgins, who had initially given a bogus name, was wanted on a bench warrant out of Allegheny County.
Wissinger previously pleaded guilty to felony possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and was sentenced to 15 to 45 months in a state correctional facility.
