Two men accused of selling heroin in the area pleaded not guilty Thursday in Mower County court.

Durrell Blackmon, 34, and Alonzo Smith, 35, were arrested last month as part of a joint drug sting among area law enforcement agencies. A third man, Steven Davis, is set to address his charges on Sept. 11.

According to a court complaint, the suspects were arrested inside two apartments at the 300 block of Main Street South on Aug. 20. Law enforcement found $2,819, tar used for heroin, marijuana and drug paraphernalia inside the apartment where Davis was arrested.

More than $1,500, cocaine and 23 pills that were later found to be ecstasy were found in the apartment where Blackmon and Smith were found.

The arrests stemmed from information police received from a confidential informant who had bought heroin from Smith and Davis, both of Austin, several days prior to the sting. A $50 bill recovered from the 31-year-old Davis’s apartment matched money used by the informant to buy heroin, according to the complaint.

Davis told police he had lived in the apartment for the past two months and said the money recovered was his girlfriend’s savings fund to buy a new car. Yet Davis allegedly changed his story once police told him about the $50 bill used by an informant, and he told police the money was his proceeds from “helping people get hooked up.”

Blackmon, who is from Chicago, told police he was visiting Smith and had stayed in the apartment for a few days. He also said he was on probation for a robbery charge in Illinois and that his probation officer didn’t know Blackmon was in Minnesota, according to the complaint.

Blackmon and Smith each face two counts of fifth-degree drug possession, and Smith and Davis each face one count of third-degree sale of a narcotic.

Davis is on release from jail pending a sentencing in another felony drug case, while Smith is on a pretrial release for a separate felony drug case.