Margarita Castaneda-Estrada cried as she stood in Skagit County Superior Court Thursday on seven felony charges involving dealing heroin from her Concrete home.

After several months of investigation, Castaneda-Estrada, 45, and Ramiro Guerrero-Trejo, 38, were arrested at their Ridgeway Court home last week. Five of their children, between ages 2 and 14 were taken into protective custody.

Investigators believe at least some of the children were present during drug deals and could easily access drugs and pipes kept in drawers around the home.

The investigators also have pictures showing Castaneda-Estrada’s 16-year-old daughter loading marijuana plants into a “well-known drug user’s car,” and found drugs and paraphernalia in a 14-year-old’s bedroom, Deputy Skagit County Prosecutor Trisha Johnson said in court.

The investigation was sparked when the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office began receiving complaints from neighbors last spring about noisy traffic around the clock and “some rough-looking elements of people that were coming and going on foot,” said Will Reichardt, chief criminal deputy for the Sheriff’s Office.

Reichardt serves as the commander of the Skagit County Inter-local Drug Enforcement Unit, which combines investigators from local, state and federal agencies for drug cases.

With the help of a confidential informant, the unit bought heroin three times from the Concrete couple, according to Skagit County Superior Court documents. The informant told police they have been selling drugs for about two years.

The exact amount of drugs seized is not in court documents.

“The quantity of drugs that we bought and that we recovered was not a significant amount compared to other places,” Reichardt said. “But the impact that this place was having on the community was very significant.”

Within the past year, Reichardt said, heroin has become cheaper and more accessible in Skagit County than cocaine and methamphetamine.

Johnson also said she’s noticed an increase in heroin activity in the court system recently.

“It’s extremely cheap, and it’s everywhere,” she said.

Guerrero-Trejo and Castaneda-Estrada both pleaded not guilty Thursday to maintaining a vehicle or premises for drug trafficking, possession of heroin with the intent to deliver, possession of Vicodin with the intent to distribute, conspiracy to deliver heroin and three charges of delivery of heroin.

Tahlia Ganser can be reached at 360-416-2148 or .