Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 15, 1990 TAG: 9003152262
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The boy was charged with possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute in the 400 block of Harrison Avenue Northwest, an area known as an open-air crack market.
The girl was found with marijuana in the same area, police said. Their identities are being withheld because of their ages.
Now that crack has taken a firm foothold in Roanoke, police say it is no longer so unusual for children to become involved in selling drugs.
"It's become a little more commonplace," Police Chief M. David Hooper said Wednesday. "And both of these arrests were in the hot spots" - areas of Northwest Roanoke where drug dealing is prevalent.
In many cases, drug dealers have used children as couriers and lookouts, paying them to keep watch for police cars cruising through drug areas.
A grand jury that met a week ago in Roanoke Circuit Court - launching a renewed offensive against crack dealing in the city - reconvened Tuesday and returned about 15 additional drug indictments.
The latest indictments bring the total of drug arrests in the past week to 46, Hooper said Wednesday.
Most of the indictments were for crack dealing, although a few involved heroin, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jeff Rudd said.
One of those charged with crack dealing is a man who recently completed a six-month jail term for selling the potent drug.
The drug sweeps - which have concentrated mainly on areas of Northwest Roanoke - are a follow-up to a major cocaine eradication effort organized last summer by federal, state and local authorities.
Since the initial effort began last summer, more than 300 people have been arrested on drug charges in Roanoke.
by CNB