ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 10, 1997 TAG: 9701100083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
Bedford County Sheriff's deputies had rounded up several suspected crack dealers during raids late Wednesday, when one decided to spare them the trouble of looking.
County deputies, investigators, federal DEA agents and law enforcement officers from neighboring localities were questioning and searching a group of suspects on Johnson Mountain when a man on foot approached a police security barrier and tried to get through.
The deputy at the temporary barricade told the man no one was allowed past. "You don't understand," he told the deputy. "They got a warrant for me."
"Word had gotten around," Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown said.
Brown and his deputies arrested 22 suspected Bedford County dealers overnight Wednesday in Operation: Crack-Down, a six-month investigation that has resulted in 63 charges, most for felony cocaine distribution, against 41 individuals, some of whom are from Roanoke and Lynchburg. It is the county's largest drug investigation to date.
Distribution charges were also filed against two juveniles, ages 16 and 17. Three of the suspects will face federal drug charges, which carry stiffer penalties.
Five of the 41 suspected dealers - all of whom allegedly sold crack to confidential police informants in Bedford County over the last six months - were in custody Wednesday before the raid began, and one was in a hospital being treated for illness. Eight suspects are still at large.
Brown categorized all charged as mid-or upper-level drug dealers, and said the investigation revealed drug supply links as far away as Miami, New York and Jamaica. Deputies have not finished tallying the amount of drugs confiscated in the operation, he said, but the largest single amount confiscated was a crack rock weighing 11/2ounces.
"It gives you an idea of how this epidemic is coming to the county, is part of the county," Brown said. "We're not going to stop it, but we can put a big holes and big dents in it - and I think we already have."
Operation: Crack-Down was the third phase of Brown's anti-drug campaign. Early last year, sheriff's deputies and Bedford city police arrested 13 suspects on 34 drug charges, in a sting aimed at drug buyers. And over the last six months, Brown has added to his force a drug-interdiction unit, whose officers drive custom-equipped Chevrolet Camaros.
Wednesday's raids took place across the county, from Forest and New London to the east, Big Island to the north, and Stewartsville and Montvale to the west. But most of the raids centered on the southeastern portion of the county in Body Camp, The Ridge, and Johnson Mountain.
"Drugs, drag racing, it's been going on for years and years, and finally, someone's doing something to stop it," said John Eggleston, assistant principal of Liberty High School and a lifelong resident of The Ridge. "You'd have to live in an area like mine to appreciate someone like Mike Brown."
But as happy as he is that something's being done about his area's drug problem, Eggleston said he doesn't like the image that a few drug dealers have given The Ridge. He'd like people to concentrate on positive programs such as the federal housing development grants that have given many of his neighbors new homes and indoor plumbing for the first time.
Brown said he hopes the drug raids and increased cooperation with neighbors will improve the image of communities like Body Camp and The Ridge.
"I want to say right now that there are many fine people in these communities. These individuals [suspected of drug dealing] are a small percentage of these communities, but they bring all the negative publicity."
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NHAT MEYER STAFF. 1. A police officer uses a dog toby CNBsearch for drugs in cars at a home in Bedford County Wednesday.
Raids took place across the county, from Forest and New London to
the east, Big Island to the north, and Stewartsville and Montvale to
the west. 2. A Drug Enforcement Administration agent puts a suspect
substance into a bag for later testing. color.