Opening statements were made in yesterday’s trial of a Belmont County woman for alleged drug trafficking near Shadyside Local Schools.

Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan said Stacey McCabe-Heathcote either sold or offered to sell Xanax, a controlled substance, within the vicinity of the school.

The state said McCabe-Heathcote and the informant in this case knew one another. She owned the Orange and Black Carryout in Shadyside; he lived in the village.

Last September, the alleged controlled buys took place.

However, defense attorney Dennis McNamara says the informant was a regular customer. He and his wife had been writing bad checks to Heathcote and the Orange and Black Carryout for years, and he told the jury the informant in this case was unreliable.

The trial continues today.