A trial held on April 17 and 18 found Teresa McCoy guilty on three counts of delivering or manufacturing heroin in quantities of less than 50 grams and guilty on three counts of conspiracy to deliver or manufacture the substance. All the drug deals happened in the City of Hillsdale.
The counts came from four separate cases, each case corresponding to a specific date that McCoy was involved in dealing heroin or arranging for a deal to occur.
Michigan state police trooper Keith Pillar has been an investigator for a narcotics task force since August 2010. Pillar has followed McCoy’s case since Derrick Lawson, an informant for the police, tipped him off to McCoy’s potential involvement in drug trafficking.
According to court testimony, the first incident occurred on March 9 of last year. Around 9:15 p.m., Lawson, an informant working for the police, participated in a drug deal in the parking lot of the Burger King in Hillsdale.
Pillar said this deal was orchestrated by McCoy through a phone call with Lawson and the heroin was delivered by a friend of McCoy, Rebecca Green. The agreement was five packets of heroin for $50.
“I met with Mr. Lawson after the deal. He provided me with a knotted baggy containing suspected heroin,” said Pillar.
Around 7:30 p.m. on March 14 of last year, Lawson again arranged a deal with McCoy for the same amount of heroin. The arrangements were made via speakerphone within Pillar’s hearing.
He said he recognized her voice from a drug raid in early January.
The rendezvous point was set in the Family Video parking lot. The drugs were delivered by a man with the last name of Carpenter.
The third incident occurred on March 17, 2011 after McCoy told Lawson to meet someone at 9 p.m. in the PS Foodmart parking lot. Lawson requested ten packets of heroin for $100.
Green again made the delivery and Lawson was given twelve rather than ten packets.
This was called into question by McCoy’s defense team, though Pillar assured the courtroom that Lawson had been checked before and after all drug deals for any drugs or money on his person. Lawson was clean every time he was checked, meaning the extra two packets came from Green though no extra money was exchanged.
After the exchange, Green was followed to her destination, 31 Willow St., where McCoy and her boyfriend, Nate Johnson, were at the time, Pillar said. The three people left the location with a fourth person, a woman with the last name of Heller.
A traffic stop occurred at the request of Pillar at the corner of North Hillsdale Street and Fayette Street. The $100 from the drug deal were found in Johnson’s wallet.
The fourth and final incident occurred on May 11, 2011. This deal involved a different informant, Christine Hoffman, Pillar said. Hoffman was told to deposit 300 dollars into McCoy’s Fifth-Third Bank account — at the branch in downtown Hillsdale — prior to the drug deal later that day.
Hoffman was instructed to bring 100 dollars to the deal, transacted by Heller in the bathroom of the Pilot gas station on the South side of I-94.
The car that Heller exited when she arrived at the gas station was the same car that was pulled over on March 17. After the exchange occurred, Pillar went in for the bust, arresting Heller and Johnson.
The money recieved in the transaction was found in Johnson’s wallet, excepting what Heller spent on a candy bar and a soda in the gas station, Pillar said.
Police retrieved all of the money from both Johnson’s wallet and the gas station’s cash register.
The serial numbers of the bills used in each of the drug transactions matched the numbers previously recorded for tracking.
The prosecution brought Pillar, Green, Carpenter, and Hoffman in as witnesses. Johnson, McCoy’s mother, and McCoy testified for the defense.
In Michigan, delivering or manufacturing of less than 50 grams of heroin has the maximum sentence of prison for up to 20 years, a fine of up to $25,000, or both.
The final sentencing for McCoy will occur May 21.
