HONESDALE, PA — A resident of Sterling has been arrested for selling prescription drugs to a confidential informant. According to Wayne County District Attorney Janine Edwards, 44-year-old Howard Hums, who was employed as a corrections officer at Wayne County Correctional facility, was arrested on March 27 and charged with twice selling pills to the informant that had been prescribed to Hums.

The Affidavit of Probable Cause says the pills he sold were time-released morphine capsules, and he sold 11 of them on two separate occasions to the informant for $20 each. The transactions took place at Hums’ home during February and March.

The morphine pills were opioid pain medication and a schedule II controlled substance. Bail was set by Magistrate Linus Meyers at $85,000 secured. Hums is scheduled to appear at Central Court on Wednesday, April 5 at 9:30 a.m. The arrest is the result of an investigation by the Wayne County District Attorney’s Drug Task Force. 

Edwards said, “Acting quickly with information received in January, the detectives in the DA’s drug task force were able to secure an arrest within a couple of months. This is the type of criminal activity that my office will continue to fight when there is a person in a position of trust dealing drugs in our community. We have tens of thousands of people dying in the United States due to overdoses each year. Addiction needs treatment. Drug dealing by those who take advantage of those addicted needs arrest.”