Two suspected heroin dealers and their supplier were arrested this week after a Lewis County Joint Narcotics Task Force conducted an investigation using controlled buys and confidential informants.
Kimberly Jane Hicks, 20, of Winlock, was charged Friday with delivery of a controlled substance heroin, possession of heroin and possession of suboxone.
She was granted $10,000 bail at her first appearance in Lewis County Superior Court.
Jacob Charles Hampton, 23, of Winlock, was charged with three counts of delivery of heroin and one count of possession of heroin. He was granted $20,000 bail at his Friday hearing.
Hicks and Hampton are also charged as co-defendents in a pending Lewis County Superior Court case from December, in which they are each charged with three counts of theft of a firearm.
James Michael Barnes, 42, of Chehalis, was charged Friday with attempted delivery of heroin and possession of heroin.
“Mr. Hampton was the primary target in this case,” said Lewis County deputy prosecutor Paul Masiello on Friday.
Between Dec. 1, 2015, and Feb. 1, 2016, members of JNET, a drug task force made up of personnel from the Centralia and Chehalis police departments and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, conducted a series of controlled buys of heroin from Hampton and Hicks. The confidential informant was able to buy heroin three times, according to court documents.
Hicks and Hampton are a couple with two small children.
JNET obtained a search warrant for their Winlock house, which was served on Feb. 11. Officers reported finding a “drug kit” on the kitchen table that contained packaging, digital scales and baggies with a brown residue, according to court documents. Investigators also reported finding a heroin pipe.
The couple’s children, ages 1 and 2, were in the apartment at the time, according to court documents.
Hicks reportedly told investigators that they dealt drugs, but were middlemen for larger dealers. JNET officers asked her to contact Barnes, who she said was her supplier, according to court documents.
Barnes came to the home, and was arrested as well.
All three defendants are scheduled to appear in court again on Feb. 18.
