Authorities arrested a Bloomington couple Tuesday on heroin dealing charges, following a Bloomington Police Department drug investigation.
Bonanza Stewart, 53, and Michael Stewart, 49, face felony charges of dealing level-2 narcotics and are being held without bail at the Morgan County Jail.
As part of an ongoing case, a BPD detective had received information the Stewarts were going to Chicago to purchase heroin Tuesday, said BPD Lt. John Kovach.
Officials were able to locate the Stewarts’ vehicle and maintain surveillance of it, Kovach said. They stopped the car north of Martinsville, Indiana, at 37th Street and State Road 44.
A Mooresville Police Department K-9 officer, working with BPD, approached the vehicle and the canine identified the smell of narcotics. Authorities then confiscated 51.5 grams of heroin from Bonanza Stewart, Kovach said.
Michael Stewart claimed to not know anything about the drugs and said the couple had gone to Indianapolis to eat, Kovach said. Bonanza Stewart admitted the couple had gone to Chicago to pick it up that day.
Police then arrested the couple and had them booked in the Morgan County Jail.
Bonanza and Michael Stewart were both previously charged for drug-related felonies in Monroe County. In 2014, Bonanza Stewart faced felony charges for dealing narcotics. In 2009, Michael Stewart was also charged with dealing narcotics and in 2008, he pled guilty to domestic battery in the presence of a child.
Samantha Schmidt
