A Cornell student was arrested along the 500 block of Stewart Avenue Sunday for criminal possession of a “substantial quantity” of heroin, the Ithaca Police Department said.
Keri Blakinger was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree, a class A-II felony.
Ithaca Police said that they were called to the 500 block of Stewart Avenue Sunday to respond to a report of a suspicious person. When they arrived on the scene near the Hillside Inn, they identified that individual as 26-year-old Blakinger.
Police said in a statement that further investigation revealed Blakinger was in possession of a “substantial quantity” of heroin.
Officers recovered from Blakinger an estimated six ounces of heroin, which they valued at between $50,000 and $150,000, according to an IPD statement released Dec. 19. Police said this was one of the largest seizures of heroin in IPD history. According to the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office, the heroin has not been weighed and examined by a forensics lab, and thus the exact value and quantity of the seizure has yet to be determined.
“The preliminary weight of the heroin indicates it may be the second largest seizure of the drug by the Ithaca Police Department since September of 2008,” Deputy Ithaca Police Chief John Barber told The Journal.
Blakinger was arraigned in Ithaca City Court and was remanded to the Tompkins County Jail without bail, according to the statement.
Court papers said that Blakinger admitted in a videotaped interview that the heroin was hers and made “other admissions regarding the possession and/or distribution of said heroin,” according to The Ithaca Journal.
Blakinger is a former Sun staff writer. She also previously served as editor of Red Letter Daze and features editor.
Updated: An original statement from the IPD noted that officers had seized over $150,000 worth of heroin. The IPD has since clarified that the heroin may be worth between $50,000 and $150,000. The Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office said that all statements of the drugs’ worth are estimates because the contraband has yet to be weighed in a lab.