A state parole officer made a surprise home visit Wednesday morning to one of his parolees and made a discovery that prompted a call to the Metro-Jeff Drug Task Force.

The parolee and a New York City man were arrested after police said 41 bags of crack cocaine and a packet of heroin, with a street value exceeding $2,000, were found in the apartment at 319 Clay St., according to a task force officer.

Monique A. Ortiz-Farney, 26, was charged with a parole violation and has a pending charge of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. She is being held without bail in the Metro-Jefferson Public Safety Building.

Canaan G. Joyner, 24, Manhattan, is charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. He is jailed on $20,000 bail, set by Watertown City Judge Eugene R. Renzi.

Following the call from the parole officer, who was not identified by police, the task force obtained a search warrant, which was served about 10 a.m. Wednesday. Police said $385 in cash also was seized.

Ms. Ortiz-Farney was arrested in January 2012 on charges of burglary, criminal mischief, child endangerment and harassment, and in April satisfied the charges with a guilty plea to criminal mischief, according to the Jefferson County district attorney’s office. She was at the time on parole for a criminal-mischief conviction from 2010 in Jefferson County Court.

She was returned to prison Aug. 27 for a parole violation, and again was granted a release on parole Nov. 2, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision website.

Thousands of readers like you have made Northern New York Newspapers the number one ranked website* for local news and sports coverage in the north country.

You can continue on to this article in a few seconds, or you can visit one of our websites:

• Watertown Daily Times
• The Ogdensburg Journal
• Daily Courier-Observer