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Day care director, assistant busted for trafficking drugs

State officials close Just Like Home

January 19, 2011|By Fred Petke

Photo submitted

While the director of a Winchester day care center was pleading not guilty to drug trafficking charges Wednesday afternoon, Winchester Police arrested the assistant director for allegedly selling pills at the day care.

Police charged 22-year-old Tammy Litteral of 108 Heather Lane with a single count of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance for allegedly completing a drug transaction for oxycodone at Just Like Home, a day care center on Wainscott Avenue.

According to court documents, the purchase was a controlled buy using police informants, and it was recorded on video. Police said the pills were in the same area as the children.

A day earlier, police arrested 29-year-old Shannon Johnson at her home at 604 Estes Drive after she allegedly sold oxycodone pills to confidential informants the day earlier.

Police said Johnson allegedly sold the pills from her home, and charged her with three counts of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

Police said Johnson was the facility’s director and Litteral was the assistant director. State authorities issued an emergency closure order Tuesday, which was executed late Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Johnson’s drug trafficking charges are not her only legal worries. She is also facing two felony theft of services charges, for allegedly not paying two former employees: one at Just Like Home and another at Bumble Bee Learning Center, according to court documents.

The arrests and closure cap several weeks of investigation into the business and complaints of drug trafficking around the day care. Winchester Police Chief Kevin Palmer said narcotics detectives opened an investigation after receiving the complaints, then set up the controlled buys. In each instance, the pills were oxycodone, according to court documents.

Detectives also executed a search warrant at Johnson’s home Tuesday and found more pills, a .22 rifle and a 9 mm handgun.

Following Litteral’s arrest, Winchester Police Capt. James Hall said they did not have any other active suspects, but the investigation remained open.

State regulators closed the business, located at 19 Wainscott Ave., Tuesday afternoon after police alerted them to what they found. The day care is one of several businesses in the building, including the Clark County Head Start program, but Palmer said Just Like Home was the only one involved in the case.

Contact Fred Petke at fpetke@winchestersun.com.

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