NEW YORK (AP) -- A grand jury indicted a mother, daughter and son on drug charges Friday after 7,000 heroin bags and other narcotics were found in a house that held a day care center.
Police last week found drugs including four pounds of a morphine-codeine mixture and the other drugs in several places inside the two-story building in the Sound View section of the Bronx, said New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan. The drugs were worth more than $163,000 on the street, she said.
Rosa Mercado, 52, her son, Ramfis Aquino, 26, both of the Bronx, and her daughter Chastese Mercado, 22, of Bushkill, Pa., are charged with first- and third-degree criminal possession of drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Brennan said Aquino was held on $300,000 bail and Rosa and Chastese Mercado were held on $100,000 bail. All face more than 20 years in prison if convicted.
The three pleaded not guilty to all charges.
It was unclear whether children at the day care center were exposed to any drug dealing.
Detectives with search warrants raided the rear living area of the two-story, three bedroom brick house on Feb. 15. Behind night tables and under floor boards they found some 7,000 heroin packed glassine bags, and two plastic bags containing more than eight ounces of loose heroin, Brennan said.
The prosecutor said police also found a bulletproof vest, bulletproof jacket and a box of live bullets.
From an open duffel bag in the kitchen, police recovered two kilograms of an opiate mixture used to make heroin and more than 500 empty glassine envelopes, Brennan said. She said they also found digital scales.
In New York City a kilogram of heroin costs $43,000 to $75,000 on the street, and an ounce of heroin can go for as much as $3,000, Brennan said. She said the 7,000-plus bags of heroin sell for $20 a bag.
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