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Dogs in raid put down
Charges pending in Warren bust
By DARCIE LORENO / Tribune Chronicle
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WARREN - Eleven people, including four from Michigan, will
be arraigned today on drug trafficking charges after a raid that netted more
than $72,000 worth of drugs Tuesday at 2026 W. Market St. N.W.
Also, the 20 pit bulls - including 10 puppies - that were confiscated were
euthanized Wednesday. Trumbull Ashtabula Group drug task force officials
said that decision was made due to many factors, including because they were
not licensed and there was no history available, such as where they came
from.
Neighborhood residents said they'd seen growing traffic and drug activity at
the house just over the past few months.
"They were a huge supplier of crack, heroin, OxyContin," Trumbull County
Sheriff Thomas Altiere said. "This was absolutely a nice one. We're going to
get much more aggressive in this area with these drug houses."
On Tuesday, police carrying machine guns broke through the barricaded doors
of the home. Officers were at the home for nearly eight hours Tuesday after
a search warrant was executed by the Mahoning Valley Violent Crime Task
Force. Police had been investigating the house for about the past month
after an anonymous tip, TAG officials said.
Confiscated from the home were 47 grams of marijuana, 70 grams of crack, 73
grams of cocaine, 109 grams of heroin and 700 80-milligram OxyContin
tablets. Miscellaneous pills also were found along, with $10,000 cash, 10
firearms, drug paraphernalia, surveillance cameras, police scanners and
digital scales. Among the other items found was a tracer round from an M16
rifle and a military-issue bullet-proof vest.
The doors, some of which were steel, only were open when customers would go
in and out of the home, and there were cameras posted on the outside of the
home, police reports state. During surveillance of the home, police
previously said 10 to 12 buyers would visit in as little as one hour and
that many came from areas like Southington and Farmington.
"What that shows you is that it's not a city problem, it's a county
problem," Altiere said.
Neighbors - who would not give their names - on nearby Vermont Avenue N.W.
said several families and longtime residents live on the street. But over
the past few months, they've noticed more traffic and drug activity,
especially at newer rental properties on the street north of West Market
Street.
Some said they constantly heard loud music and barking dogs at the West
Market Street home.
Altiere said officials now plan to be more aggressive cracking down on drug
houses in the area. Usually, undercover police will make three to four buys
before executing a search warrant on the homes, he said.
"Now we want to make one buy, then come down with a search warrant that
day," he said. "We want to get them out of here."
As far as the four suspects being from Michigan, Altiere said drug dealers
arrested in the area have come from anywhere from Chicago to New Mexico.
"We're not alone in that," he said. "Every city has that."
Among those arrested were three 17-year-old girls and a handicapped man
whose name is on the lease of the rental home, police said. That man was not
in Trumbull County Jail Wednesday. They will face drug trafficking charges.
The raid was conducted by TAG, the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office and the
Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation with assistance by
the Warren Police Department.
TAG's last large raid was in 2007 at 11088 King Graves Road where police
found more than 1,100 marijuana plants and a large growing operation. The
bust was worth more than $1 million.
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