|
| |
Eleven arrested in bust
By JOE GORMAN
Posted: February 27, 2010
|
WARREN - As officers were inside processing evidence after
serving a search warrant at a 363 North St. N.W. home that police say was
used to sell drugs Thursday, "customers" kept coming ... and coming.
A total of 11 people were taken into custody by members of the Trumbull
Ashtabula Group Law Enforcement Task Force - including eight who came to the
home to buy drugs not knowing the authorities were still there, according to
officers.
One of those people - 43-year-old Roy D. Baker - was charged with child
endangering because he had his 6-year-old daughter in the car with him. The
girl was handed over to relatives, but the Children Services Board was also
called, said Lt. Jeff Orr, head of the task force.
Arrested on felony trafficking in drug charges were George Pugh, 59, of
North Park Avenue; Antwon Williams, 28, of South Street; and William R.
Hill, 22, of Fifth Street. They were in the home when officers arrived to
serve the search warrant. They were each arraigned in Municipal Court Friday
and were each given a 10 percent, $5,000 surety bond.
The home is about 50 yards away from St. Joseph Catholic Church on North
Street.
Orr said the warrant was served about 6 p.m., and officers were at the home
until about 9:30 collecting evidence. It was after the three men were taken
to jail that the others came to the home and were arrested. He said that is
not the first he has seen this happen .
''They didn't know anybody was there,'' Orr said. ''They just showed up to
do their thing.''
Officers took some crack cocaine, a small amount of marijuana, a
.380-caliber handgun, digital scales, surveillance cameras, a police
scanner, pills and about $3,500 in cash.
Orr said the men in the house were ''mid-level'' drug dealers and that the
neighbors had been complaining about the high amount of traffic at the
house. Orr said neighborhood complaints spawned the weeks-long
investigation.
They specialized in dealing mostly crack cocaine but also some marijuana, he
said.
''If we get complaints we'll come and take care of it,'' Orr said. ''The
neighborhood said we don't want it.''
Councilman Al Novak, D-2nd Ward, said he had received several complaints
about the home and he's glad it has been dealt with.
''We got a lot of complaints about the traffic,'' Novak said. ''I'm just
glad it was taken care of.''
|
|
