2 NEW JERSEY MEN SENTENCED FOR ROLES IN ROANOKE HEROIN RING

Ringleader was Rosalind "Roz" Arrington. At one time, the group supplied
90 percent of the city's heroin, authorities say.

Two New Jersey men will spend the next decade in federal prison for
bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of heroin to the Roanoke
area.

Thursday in federal court, U.S. District Judge James Turk sentenced Shawn
Henry to 12 years in prison for supplying a Northwest Roanoke heroin ring
with the highly addictive narcotic. The ring -- mostly family members
headed by Rosalind "Roz" Arrington and involving her two daughters, Shameka
and Gail -- at one time supplied 90 percent of the city's dope before being
busted last year, authorities say.

Defense lawyers disputed the notion that Henry, 25, was a major supplier in
the Arrington conspiracy. They argued he was nothing more than a "mule," a
low-level player who was paid to haul the heroin from the New York/New
Jersey area.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Wolthuis said, however, that many in the
conspiracy told authorities that Henry personally delivered more than four
kilograms of heroin in 1995 to Roanoke, enough to package tens of thousands
of baggies that addicts would then inject. Henry stashed the drug in the
bedroom of Gail Arrington's 10-year-old daughter , which became a way
station of sorts for him to make his deals.

Because Henry had several prior crack cocaine convictions, he faced a
minimum mandatory sentence of 20 years. He was credited, though, with
providing information helpful in the government's case against his
co-conspirators.

One of those he led authorities to was Sylvester "J.B." Jones. Thursday,
Turk sentenced Jones to 10 years in prison under a plea agreement in which
the New Jersey man admitted supplying the Arringtons in 1997 with $250,000
to $500,000 in heroin.

"I'd just like to apologize to the courts for being part of this
conspiracy," Jones, 28, told Turk. Jones asked to be imprisoned in New
Jersey near his family and to get into a drug treatment program.

Henry and Jones were two of 18 people rounded up last year in connection
with the Arrington ring, who authorities say supplied the heroin that led
to the overdose deaths of three people in 1996 and 1997. All but one have
been convicted, and nine of those, including Roz and Shameka Arrington,
still await sentencing.

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson