Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 21, 1993 TAG: 9304210202
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Among them was a Radford High School student charged with selling LSD.
Also charged was the immediate past executive vice president of Radford University's Inter-Fraternity Council, Christopher T. Holland, accused of distributing marijuana and cocaine.
Eleven other Radford University students also were charged.
Paul W. Snell Jr., a former quarterback for Radford High School, was charged with two counts of distributing cocaine and one count of marijuana distribution.
"It's definitely got to be taking a big bite out" of the city's drug traffic, Chief A.C. Earles said of Tuesday's arrests.
Police began making the arrests after a special grand jury returned 31 felony and 15 misdemeanor indictments. Police also were serving another 34 warrants obtained as part of the bust, a total of 80 charges.
Of those charged, 30 are Radford residents, three are women, three are juveniles. They ranged in age from 15 to 40, police said.
Those arrested were brought in one at a time by two or three officers. Most hung their heads or pulled shirts over their heads to hide their faces from news photographers. Police said they expected to continue making arrests through Tuesday night.
Commonwealth's Attorney Randal Duncan said those arrested include two or three serious dealers. Undercover buys were made at costs of $5 to $500.
The investigation began in November and the drugs involved were marijuana, powder and crack cocaine, LSD and prescription medicines.
Duncan and Earles said they were concerned that a high school student evidently was distributing LSD.
"I hate to see it in this area," Earles said. Although only a few hits were purchased at a cost of $50, the chief said that was "more than we want to" see.
Duncan said the LSD buy was made off school grounds.
Earles said this spring's bust was a little larger than previous drug arrests, which also have come in the spring. Last April, 25 people were arrested after a grand jury returned 69 drug indictments.
Police said personal property, such as cars, and real property may be seized later, but none was confiscated Tuesday.
Radford is not part of any drug task force, Earles said, so it is ineligible for state money to conduct the investigations. He stressed that the department's four detectives carried out the investigation on their own.
Earles said his four investigators should be eligible for state assistance in undercover drug operations. He wondered if organized task forces are accomplishing as much as Radford has.
Police reported no problems in making arrests Tuesday afternoon. But last month, a Radford grand jury indicted Thomas A. Newby, 20, of West Street, on charges of robbing an undercover informant of $130 on Oct. 29. The grand jury also indicted Newby on a charge of shooting into an occupied vehicle and using a firearm to commit a robbery.
At a preliminary hearing, the informant - who is not being identified at the request of police - testified that Newby pointed a gun at him and threatened him after the informant gave him a ride and asked about buying crack cocaine.
When police, who had been monitoring the conversation, arrived and yelled for Newby to stop, he lowered the gun and it discharged. The bullet struck the right side of the driver's seat cushion.
by CNB