Police: Drug sting nets 4 arrests and $150,000 worth of heroin

The arrests, by the Combined Law Enforcement Against Narcotics (CLEAN) Task Force, included the seizure of a full kilogram -- 2.2 pounds -- of heroin with a street value of $150,000.

Investigators say Alfonso Churchwell Sr., 53, of Fort Myers, who was already on federal probation for dealing, was heading a major trafficking ring. He was arrested along with Cheyenne Winn, 31, of Fort Myers; Shunda Parson, 32, of Lehigh Acres; and Robert Hawkins, 53, of Miami.

Capt. Mike Johnstone of the Lee County Sheriff's Office said Hawkins, who was arrested in Immokalee, was apparently bringing the drug across the state to Churchwell, who was distributing it through Parson, Winn and others.

Johnstone, a cop for almost a quarter-century, said police are seeing more and more heroin.

"It is making a comeback," he said. "We're seeing an increase in heroin on the street, and in apparent abuse."Winn was already in custody when the others were arrested Tuesday. Parson and Churchwell were arrested in Fort Myers.

Johnstone said heroin can be snorted or smoked as well as injected.

"When I started my career in the late '70s heroin was bigger than powder cocaine," he said. "In the '80s it was crack, and everything else went out of style, but heroin is coming back."