Detroit Man, Boone Woman Plead Guilty to Heroin Conspiracy

Detroit man Daymeon Damar Johnson, 31, and Joyce Ann Zornes, 33, of Seth, West Virginia, pleaded guilty today to their roles in a years-long heroin conspiracy that flooded Boone County with deadly narcotics. The pair admitted to trafficking massive quantities of heroin from Michigan into southern West Virginia, fueling an epidemic that has ravaged the region for over a decade.

Johnson admitted to orchestrating the supply chain from 2013 to August 2016, ordering heroin from his supplier and directing its distribution to users and dealers across Boone County. Zornes confessed to personally transporting heroin from Detroit to Seth between May 2015 and August 2016, using her residence as a base for distribution. The operation was not only widespread but brazen—heroin deals went down in plain sight, often from inside her home.

The case turned darker when Johnson admitted to trading drugs for guns—a dangerous exchange that put weapons in criminal hands. On March 25, 2016, he handed over a KBI, Inc. SKS-45, 7.62 x 39 caliber semiautomatic rifle to raise bail money for Zornes, who had been arrested in Jackson County. That weapon changed hands again, landing with an informant working for the U.S. 119 Task Force.

On August 1, 2016, the operation collapsed in real time. Johnson and Zornes sold heroin to a confidential informant at her Seth residence—Zornes took the cash while Johnson delivered the drugs. Two days later, federal agents executed a search warrant, catching both suspects at the scene. They seized heroin, prescription pills, drug scales, cash, and ammunition. A second raid on August 9, prompted by a jailhouse phone call from Zornes, uncovered more heroin, meds, and $90.00 in prerecorded buy money from a prior controlled purchase.

Now facing the full weight of federal justice, Johnson and Zornes each risk up to 20 years behind bars. Johnson is scheduled for sentencing on April 4, 2017. Zornes will learn her fate March 30, 2017. Both pleaded before U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua C. Hanks leading the prosecution.

The U.S. 119 Task Force, a multi-agency coalition targeting drug trafficking along the I-77 and U.S. 119 corridors, ran the investigation. This case is part of a broader crackdown by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia, determined to dismantle pill mills, shut down open-air markets, and halt the lethal flow of heroin and opioids into struggling Appalachian communities.