( CNN ) -- Actress Felicia `` Snoop '' Pearson , who once dealt drugs in Baltimore before a chance encounter got her a role on HBO 's `` The Wire , '' was arrested overnight during a series of raids in her hometown , police said Thursday . A five-month drug trafficking investigation , dubbed `` Public Enemies , '' focused on heroin and marijuana distribution . It targeted 79 people ; 63 were arrested in the raids , according to CNN Baltimore affiliate WBAL . The U.S. Attorney 's Office said 24 people face drug charges at the federal level , and 40 more face similar charges at the state level , including Pearson . A federal indictment alleges that the conspirators mainly obtained heroin and marijuana from suppliers in New York and California . She was arrested on a charge of conspiracy to distribute heroin and aiding and abetting , prosecutors said in a statement . WBAL said it got no reply when it asked Pearson for a comment . `` It 's named 'Public Enemies ' because a lot of the main targets are violent repeat offenders , '' said Carl Kotowski of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Baltimore . `` Allegedly , they 've been tied to a few murders in the city . '' In her 2007 memoir , `` Grace After Midnight , '' Pearson -- now 30 -- wrote of being born to a drug-addicted mother and then selling drugs herself . At 14 , she killed another teenager and served time in Jessup State Penitentiary for murder , the memoir says . After her release from prison , she met an actor from `` The Wire '' cast in a club and joined the show until it ended in 2008 .
NEW : Actress is accused of conspiracy to distribute heroin . Felicia ` appeared on `` The Wire '' cast in a club and joined the show until from 2008 . She once worked for drug-runners in California .