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Man arrested at MJK ‘addicted to heroin about 10 years’

Lauren Blair

When an MJK Ace Hardware employee went into the men’s bathroom the morning of Aug. 29, the last thing he probably expected to find was a woman standing there while a man in one of the stalls cooked heroin.

The employee took quick action and had another employee call the Craig Police Department before detaining the man in the office until police arrived, according to an arrest affidavit.

The 27-year-old man, Richard Durham, was arrested on charges of alleged possession of a schedule I/II drug and drug paraphernalia and possession of a schedule IV controlled substance.



He was found with a hypodermic needle, the bottom portion of a beverage can with brown residues on it, a few other miscellaneous items and two packages of suboxone, a drug prescribed to individuals overcoming opiate addiction, according to the affidavit.

MJK co-owner Blaine Kawcak declined to comment, simply saying this is the first time such an incident has ever happened at his family’s store.



Though police have been encountering more incidents of found drug paraphernalia in the community recently, said Commander Bill Leonard, it’s unusual to see something like this take place at a local business.

“It’s more common in small convenience stores rather than in small businesses like MJK,” Leonard said.

Durham told police he’d “been addicted to heroin for about 10 years with stints of sobriety,” the affidavit said. He told police the bottom of the Rockstar beverage can was his cooking apparatus, and pointed out a brown substance he identified as heroin and a black mark from a flame.

According to accounts within the affidavit, Durham appeared largely cooperative both with MJK staff and police.

The woman involved in the incident left with another man, described as her employer, in a blue Dodge pickup truck as officers arrived. One officer followed the pair and pulled them over to find her hand was bleeding. She stated it may have been from a bag of hypodermic needles that they had turned over to another officer, according to the affidavit.

All three individuals were trespassed from the business. Durham is listed as “transient” on his booking sheet, and the residency of the other two individuals is unknown.


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