Upper Darby Drug Suspect Nabbed with Heroin Brand-Named 'LeBron James'
By Molly Daly
UPPER DARBY, Pa. (CBS) -- Upper Darby police got a surprise after a drug bust Thursday night, one that would likely dismay a certain famous basketball player.
"Thursday night around 6 o'clock, one of our undercover officers was making a purchase of 140 bags of heroin for about $800. We went to arrest him, and the drug dealer took off," says Upper Darby police superintendent Michael Chitwood.
Three dented vehicles and a foot chase later, a 19-year-old suspect was in custody, and police went to inventory the drugs.
What they found was the mother of all counterfeit marketing logos.
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"On each one of the packets was caricature of a basketballball player in motion, and then underneath the caricature, the name LeBron James," says Chitwood, who notes that heroin bags are often stamped with names or slogans as a marketing technique.
But this took some chutzpah, Chitwood thinks.
"Never have I seen a world-renowned athlete's name attached to that. Certainly, I don't think LeBron James would be would be a very happy individual if he saw that."
The suspect, Marlon Guess of Philadelphia, is charged with trafficking in narcotics, recklessly endangering another person, and resisting arrest, among other offenses. He was being held in lieu of $250,000 bail.
