NORFOLK, Va. – A Virginia Beach man pleaded guilty today to maintaining a drug-trafficking premises and possession with intent to distribute heroin.
According to allegations in the indictment, criminal complaint and related court-documents, Demetress Bratton, 37, was arrested in March 2018 attempting to access his storage unit in Virginia Beach.
Earlier that day, a Virginia Beach drug dog gave a positive alert for drugs at the storage unit and a search warrant was obtained. During the search, detectives recovered two bags of an off-white substance that were sitting on a hydraulic press. One of the bags contained roughly 37 grams of heroin, and the other contained roughly 55 grams of a cutting agent used to increase the amount of heroin.
Detectives also recovered a money counter, a Gucci bag containing $20,000 cash, two handguns, two rifles and several cell phones. Later, when Bratton arrived at his storage unit and was arrested, law enforcement recovered $1,663 in cash, bags of heroin and a cutting agent from his vehicle.
Bratton has been trafficking heroin for the past six years and is an eight-time felon.
Bratton faces a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum of 40 years in prison when sentenced on January 3, 2019.
