Charges filed against alleged drug dealers on Brookside Drive

Charges were filed Friday against four people arrested on allegations of drug dealing from a Brookside Drive residence.

Felony charges of trafficking in heroin were filed against Wooster residents Nicholas Knapik, 32, Helena Kaser, 20, and Jessica Cahal, 26. The same charge was filed against Cleveland resident Kenneth Stevens, 48.

All were being held in jail Friday on a $50,000 cash bond.

They each have preliminary hearings scheduled in Wayne County Municipal Court for Jan. 26 on their respective cases.

According to the Wooster Police and Medway Drug Enforcement Agency, local intelligence gathered by neighbors suspicious of drug activity led to a search warrant, which was executed on Wednesday afternoon at a Wooster residence on the 2000 block of Brookside Drive.

Wooster Capt. Scott Rotolo said previously that neighbors reported vehicles coming and going at all hours of the night, and also recognized some of those arrested from public sources as to their involvement in drugs.

Local agencies searched the residence and found the four individuals inside the home. Drugs, cash and a loaded 9mm Uzi-style firearm were seized from the house.

Court documents state that heroin was allegedly found on Stevens during a search, as well as in a kitchen freezer. And in Knapik and Cahal's bedroom, suspected methamphetamine was reportedly found too, along with more suspected heroin.

The Uzi was found hidden in a drawer in the common living room area with 24 rounds loaded in the magazine, along with an additional round in the chamber. No one claimed ownership of the firearm.

All four reportedly admitted to drug addictions to law enforcement, court records show, and everyone except Kaser had prior drug felony convictions.

Stevens, additionally, was wanted by Cleveland Police and has convictions for robbery, burglary and felonious assault from Cuyahoga County.

"This would not have happened if not for people contacting us to provide us with information," allowing law enforcement to obtain a search warrant, Rotolo said previously on this case.

By STEVEN F. HUSZAI Staff Writer