10 Face Heroin Charges In N.Va.
Centreville Ring Of Young Adults Tied to 3 Deaths

By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 20, 2008

Ten people were charged yesterday in a heroin distribution ring in Northern Virginia that was responsible for at least three heroin deaths in Fairfax County, where 14 people have died from the drug this year, prosecutors and health officials said.

Many of the deaths occurred in the Centreville area and involved current and former students of Westfield High School, according to court records. Of the nine people identified in a federal complaint charging them with conspiracy to distribute heroin, all were 19 to 22.

Skylar M. Schnippel, 19, of Centreville is accused of providing heroin in March to a woman who overdosed and died. That woman had overdosed in August 2007, "was not breathing and her face was blue," according to an FBI affidavit, but she was revived at an Arlington County hospital emergency room. She overdosed again in October 2007, and she obtained heroin each time from the Centreville group, the affidavit says.

Two others who died of overdoses were connected to the ring, court records state. Ashleigh L. Shade and Jessica R. Remington, both 19 and from the Fairfax City area, reportedly told investigators that they used heroin with an unnamed person in December who died. And in September this year, an alleged conspirator in the ring obtained heroin, used it and died, according to the affidavit, written by FBI Special Agent Bryan D. Wilhite.

In addition to the 14 deaths in Fairfax this year, 12 people died of heroin overdoses in the county last year, according to state health statistics. In each of the previous three years, the number of heroin-related deaths had not exceeded six.

"It really is very sobering," said Fairfax Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D), "that young people right out of high school are actually engaged in the drug trade. It's a warning to all of us. We have to stay tough, we have to stay vigilant, even in this down time in the economy. You can't let up."

Cooperating witnesses in the Centreville ring said the group initially obtained heroin mostly in Washington and Baltimore, sometimes buying bags of the powder for $20 and reselling it in Virginia for $40, according to Wilhite's affidavit.

Some members of the ring have been repeatedly arrested by police and federal agents, court records show. Joshua R. Quick, 21, of Centreville has been arrested several times with heroin since August 2007. But Quick would post bond on state charges and resume dealing the drug to his friends, Wilhite's affidavit says. Quick is accused of providing heroin to at least two people who overdosed, but not fatally.

Fairfax drug treatment experts said that heroin use in the county, although not overwhelming in raw numbers, is clearly on the rise, particularly among people ages 18 to 24. David Naylor, director of a Fairfax drug and alcohol treatment center, said that one-third of the people admitted for treatment in the last fiscal year were 18 to 24. That was more than double the number of young users the county usually saw, "a few here and there," Naylor said.

In the first nine months of this year, as many people sought treatment for heroin addiction in Fairfax as had in all of last year, said Peggy Cook, director of residential services for the county's alcohol and drug services.

"It used to be when a heroin addict came in, he'd been using for 20 years," Cook said. "That's when they hit bottom. Now kids are coming in after two years," with addicts as young as 17.

Naylor, who has been a rehabilitation counselor for 23 years, said that in the past, heroin addicts were introduced to the drug by a family member or friend who guided them in "how to be a dope fiend." But now, Naylor said, "kids are copping at school, getting hooked, then going out and trying to cop on the street. They have limited knowledge of it."

Naylor said the purity of street heroin has been growing in recent years, and users who don't know how to moderate the drug can shoot or snort too much.

Schnippel allegedly told investigators that he knew of 30 people who bought heroin from Quick and that he also obtained some from David E. Schreider, 20, of Centreville.

Schnippel reported that Schreider visited him at Virginia Commonwealth University and tried to get him to recruit more customers at the Richmond school, Wilhite wrote.

In July 2007, Schreider and another alleged dealer, Lokesh Rawat, 19, of Centreville, were stopped by investigators with 60 bags of heroin, court records state. A month later, Quick and Rawat were stopped with heroin. Rawat told investigators that "it was his intention to distribute the heroin to others" in Northern Virginia, "including to juveniles at Westfield High School in Fairfax County," Wilhite stated.

Although Quick was arrested in August 2007, other members of the ring told agents that they continued to buy heroin from him. Schnippel reported buying from him 30 times in January and February, Wilhite wrote. When Quick's house in Centreville was searched in January, agents seized more than $6,000 and 20 bags of heroin. But he was released again and continued to deal until he was arrested in March, users told the investigators.

Quick, Schreider, Rawat, Shade and Remington -- along with Daniel R. Nash, 19, Tayler L. Gibson, 19, and Anna L. Richter, 20 -- were charged with conspiracy to distribute more than 100 grams of heroin. Schnippel, Quick and an unnamed 10th person were charged with providing heroin that caused injury or death, which carries a minimum 20-year sentence with a conviction.