PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man has pleaded not guilty to heroin possession after being formally charged last week.
Adam Dartagnan Clevenger, 26, entered a plea of not guilty to a charge of one count of heroin possession in Clallam County Superior Court on Thursday after he was arrested May 25 at a home in the 800 block of 12th Street.
Port Angeles police and paramedics had been called there after a report of a woman slumped down on the front porch of the house.
The woman, who later told police she had used heroin at the home, was taken to Olympic Medical Center, where she was treated and discharged after a suspected heroin overdose.
Clevenger was arrested with 22-year-old Cree Nichole Stone, who was charged last week with one count each of heroin possession and methadone possession.
Stone’s arraignment hearing was pushed back from last Friday to this Friday.
Clevenger will next appear in Clallam County Superior Court on June 14 for a status hearing, with a tentative jury trial date set for July 22.
No bond
Both remained in the Clallam County jail Friday with no bond set.
The charges stemmed from the pair’s arrest in which heroin, scales and unused plastic bags and syringes were found at the home, according to police accounts.
Police also found a 4-year-old child at the 12th Street home, Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith had said, and the child was put into the hands of Child Protective Services.
Jesse Espinoza, the Clallam County deputy prosecuting attorney assigned to the case, said Friday he did not have sufficient evidence to charge Clevenger with delivery of heroin.
Clevenger had been booked into jail for investigation of delivery of heroin.
Despite the scales and other items found at the home, Espinoza said he had only had the word of Cree as a witness, someone he said a jury likely would not find credible, that Clevenger intended to do anything but use the heroin instead of delivering or selling it.
“What we do have is evidence of two people that used drugs,” Espinoza said.
The total weight of the package and heroin found in the home was 6.5 grams, Espinoza said, which means the actual amount of heroin found was fewer than 6.5 grams.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
