Five charged in connection with heroin, prescription medication distribution in Hancock

Five people, including four Hancock residents, have been charged in connection with an investigation involving the distribution of heroin and prescription medication in Hancock and the surrounding area, the Washington County Narcotics Task Force said Tuesday in a prepared release.

A sixth person was charged with threatening a police informant and the informant’s family in a telephone call made on the same night that one of the five was arrested.

The arrests followed an investigation by Narcotics Task Force agents and the Hancock Police Department, which ran from early November to Dec. 13, according to a task force news release and documents obtained Tuesday from Washington County District Court.

Those charged include:

• Gene Richard Fuhrman Jr., 36, of 212 A W. High St., Hancock. He was charged with one count each of threatening to harm with the intent of retaliating against a victim or witness for reporting a crime or delinquent act; threatening to harm with the intent of retaliating against a victim or witness for reporting a crime or delinquent act; threatening to harm another witness with intent to influence a victim or witness to testify falsely or withhold testimony; and threatening to harm another witness with intent to influence victim or witness to testify falsely or withhold testimony.

Fuhrman was being held Tuesday in the Washington County Detention Center on a $50,000 bond, a deputy at the jail said.

• Theodore Alvin Bean, 39, of 2955 Fairview Drive, Berkeley Springs, W.Va. He was charged with two counts each of distribution of a controlled dangerous substance — narcotics, and possession of a controlled dangerous substance — not marijuana.

On Nov. 5, task force agents used a confidential narcotics informant to purchase suspected heroin from Bean in the parking lot of a convenience store on West Main Street in Hancock, according to the statement of probable cause.

Police said the informant was wearing a camera and was given $140 to purchase the drugs. The informant walked up to a vehicle in which Bean was sitting and used the $140 to purchase five packs of heroin valued at $130, the statement of probable cause alleges. 

The informant left and met task force agents who were waiting nearby, according to documents. A field test on brown powdery substance that was purchased from Bean tested positive heroin, court papers say.

On Nov. 27, an informant purchased six packets of heroin from Bean for $150 in the convenience store parking lot, the statement alleges. A subsequent field test confirmed that the substance was heroin.

Task force agents arrested Bean on Dec. 13 in the parking lot of a nightclub on Millstone Road near Hancock. He was released from the Washington County Detention Center on Dec. 14 on $75,000 bond, a deputy at the jail said.

• Michelle Renee Glass, 46, of 212 A W. High St. in Hancock, was charged with one count each of distribution of a controlled dangerous substance — narcotics, and possession of a controlled dangerous substance — not marijuana.