Peabody woman faces drug distribution charges

SALEM – A Peabody woman able to convince a judge to reduce her sentence last August on credit fraud and passing fake checks is now facing charges of heroin distribution near a school zone.Joanna Snyder, 47, of 14 Aberdeen Ave., Peabody, is now charged with two counts of distribution of heroin, two counts of distribution of heroin within a school zone as well as possession with the intent to distribute heroin and possession with intent to distribute heroin within a school zone.The charges arise out of a month-long investigation by Peabody Police in 2010 in which she allegedly made three heroin sales to an undercover officer in Peabody between April 21 and April 28.Snyder was on probation at the time of the alleged offenses.Assistant District Attorney Kim Faitella is prosecuting the case.Last August Snyder appeared before Salem Superior Court Judge Timothy Q. Feeley and convinced him to change her sentence of two and a half years in jail with probation after she pleaded guilty to a string of crimes that included identity fraud, larceny, forgery and stolen property arising out of incidents in Peabody, North Andover and Gloucester in 2008 and 2009.Instead she received 89 days on a charge of larceny over $250 and another 22 days on a receiving stolen property charge, both deemed served for time she had already spent in jail awaiting trial. She also was placed on five years probation.