
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 23, 1995                   TAG: 9503230084
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

DRUG-SUSPECT ROUNDUP OFF TO A FAST START

City police on Wednesday arrested two of eight men indicted this week by a grand jury on felony drug charges. Police plan to expand the search for the remaining six outside the city and possibly outside the state.

Monday, the grand jury handed down 28 indictments, all for felony distribution of crack cocaine, said Radford Deputy Police Chief Jonny Butler.

Commonwealth's Attorney Randal Duncan confirmed that one of those arrested - 19-year-old Christopher Kilondo Laieke of the 100 block of P.T. Travis Avenue - also faces grand larceny charges in addition to three counts of distributing crack. The theft charges, also certified Monday by the grand jury, stem from his arrest in December for stealing a van and a car stereo last spring.

Laieke is being held without bond in the Radford City Jail. The second man, 40-year-old James Douglas Hendricks of the 1500 block of Staples Street, remains in jail in lieu of $20,000 bond.

Butler characterized the six-month undercover investigation leading to the indictments as "a little more dangerous" than previous narcotics probes that have yielded traffickers in marijuana, hallucinogens and so-called "recreational drugs" in the college town.

Police said they do not believe any Radford University students are among those indicted Monday.

Butler said the crack cocaine crowd - relatively recent arrivals in Radford - "are normally not gentleman farmers."

"The crack cocaine market is not easy to infiltrate and it's not easy to investigate," Butler asserted. In addition, the department was as many as five people short for much of the investigation, he said.

Up until the most recent investigation, Radford Police didn't have much luck penetrating the crack market, Butler said.

"It's kind of like playing poker. You just take what you're dealt and play it," he said of probes like this one, in which undercover agents make small drug buys they hope will lead to big dealers.

"This one just led to the crack market," he said. Butler hopes it will lead elsewhere, too, into other sectors of the drug trade.

The investigation confirmed for Butler that Radford is not immune to the crack cocaine epidemic. "Five years ago, we didn't have a crack cocaine problem," he said. Now, more vigorous enforcement efforts in places like Roanoke have driven crack dealers to smaller communities like Radford and Bedford, he said. Recent information indicates heroin could be making inroads as well, he said.

Bedford's experience with crack shows the problem is not unique to university communities, Butler said. "I think it would be here anyway."

So far, he said, Radford has been fortunate to avoid the violence - such as drive-by shootings - that is often a part of the crack cocaine scene. He said he hoped Wednesday's arrests would serve as a wake-up call for those who don't think small towns and cities have serious drug problems.

by CNB