Pastor Charged With Conspiracy To Sell Heroin

Wisconsin: A Milwaukee man who worked as a pastor and a youth counselor until last summer has been charged in federal court with dealing heroin, according to court documents.

John West, 59, and nine others, including his son, were indicted on charges of conspiracy to sell heroin from the summer of 2009 until March. A mother and her adult son are among those charged.

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Court documents describe West as the leader of the group. He often went to Chicago to buy heroin, developed an "innovative way of cutting" the drug to maximize profits, hired armed enforcers to protect the operation and personally carried a gun.

West was ordained in 1969 and most recently was a pastor with his wife, Linda Hughes, at the Prayer House of Deliverance, according to his attorney and court documents