8 Spokanites charged in heroin ring

Eight Spokane residents face federal charges for a heroin distribution ring that authorities allege supplied at least 100 grams of the drug.

The charges in U.S. District Court allege the group distributed heroin in Spokane from last April to this February.

Authorities sealed an affidavit supporting the charges out of concerns for the safety of a confidential informant, according to court documents.

Further details on the case were not available, but arrested in the last two weeks have been:  Gary Erwin Douglass, 57; Charles R. Wallace, 41; Samuel William Wright, 36; Julie A. Rice-Lewis, 38; and James Clayton Lindsay, 57.

Frisco Ayala, 32, Chad Benefield, age unavailable, and Brian L. Sellers, 35, also are charged.

Sellers was arrested with 84 grams of heroin last May after a road rage incident on U.S. Highway 395.