Drug Dealer Sold Heroin To Children In Atlanta

ATLANTA, GA — An Atlanta drug dealer is on his way to prison after pleading guilty to selling heroin and other drugs — some of them t0 high school students and most of them to buyers under the age of 21.

Derrick "Dre" Douglas, 31, of Atlanta, was sentenced to five years in prison, followed by six years of supervised release, after pleading guilty in federal court. Most of his young customers visited him in the English Avenue neighborhood, near Georgia Tech, then returned to north Georgia to resell the drugs, prosecutors said.

Douglas also was convicted of selling the deadly opioid fentanyl to an undercover officer.

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In north Georgia, the Union County Sheriff's Office learned that high school students and young adults there were traveling into Atlanta to buy heroin. Investigators learned that Douglas would see anywhere from a half-gram to a gram of heroin to them for $100-150.

Most of his customers were younger than 21, the investigators learned.

From September 2016 through June 2017, Douglas is believed to have sold more than 80 grams of heroin to these young people. He sold the fentanyl to an undercover officer on Jan. 25, 2017 and was arrested on June 23.

"The Union County Sheriff’s Office was fortunate to be able to have played a small part of this successful operation," said Sheriff Mack Mason. "It saddens me to see the negative affects this drug has on the young people today."

The case was investigated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Atlanta Police Department, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and Union County Sheriff’s Office.

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