Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 12, 1994 TAG: 9408120060
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
While crack cocaine arrests have been made in Blacksburg before, this is the first time police have investigated and identified a drug market operating openly in the community.
Members of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force obtained search warrants and entered two apartments at the Heritage Acres apartment complex last Wednesday after months of surveillance and gathering information about reported sales of crack cocaine.
"We've been receiving numerous complaints about the loitering in the parking lot, the open-air drug market," said Blacksburg Chief Bill Brown. Residents, who complained of both foot and car traffic, said they would leave for work and be sure to return to their homes before nightfall, the chief said.
An investigation is continuing and no charges have been filed, said Walter Farmer, an assistant special agent with the Virginia State Police who supervises the task force.
Informants told officers that drug trafficking increased at the apartments at 1776 Liberty Lane off Ellett Road in southeast Blacksburg the first of each month, coinciding with the arrival of government checks and paychecks, according to the search warrants.
A search of the two apartments found few drugs. More than $2,500 in cash was confiscated from one apartment, according to the search warrant. Two pistols and some ammunition, brass knuckles, two small plastic bags with greenish plant material, a homemade smoking device and a straw also were found.
At that apartment, "When we knocked at the door and waited ... It was obvious we weren't going to get in," Farmer said. Police heard the commode flushing and found a man near the toilet. Police took the commode up from the floor and found a small plastic bag, he said. Police say it may be difficult to save any evidence from that bag.
At another apartment, officers found two clear plastic bags - one containing marijuana and the other an unidentified off-white colored material, a razor blade, a jewelry box with white powder and other paraphernalia, according to the search warrant.
The confiscated items are being tested to determine if they are illegal drugs.
Farmer said the apartments had been under surveillance for some time.
Drug activity had increased at the two apartments in the last several months, according to the search warrants. Informants had told police that a Giles County man delivered crack cocaine to one apartment. Buys from the Giles County supplier of $1,000 were routinely split up into $25 pieces for resale, according to the search warrant.
During June and July, the search warrant states, "members of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force have supervised additional informants who have made crack cocaine purchases under controlled circumstances from numerous dealers who either live in, or frequent, the Heritage Acres apartment complex."
One apartment was named as "a meeting place for crack cocaine users and suppliers," in the search warrant On numerous occasions, these informants have gone to one of the apartments to meet with a dealer, according to the search warrant. The dealer would then travel to a second apartment to obtain the cocaine. Informants told police they "purchased crack cocaine from suppliers" at one of the apartments numerous times.
David Schreiner, the apartment complex's manager, said the searches didn't come as a surprise.
"There had been speculation and hearsay that that stuff was here," he said, and in Blacksburg in general. "I've been expecting this to happen."
Schreiner said residents have complained to him about car traffic in the complex.
"I'm glad that they're doing something about it," he said.
by CNB