ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609270069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
MEMO: NOTE: SHorter version ran in Metro edition.
Drug agents raided two trailer parks in Franklin County on Thursday morning, arresting 12 people and charging them with conspiracy to sell crack cocaine.
The arrests came after a yearlong undercover investigation - dubbed "Operation Clean Sweep" - that centered on open-air crack markets in the Chestnut Hill and Virginia 619 trailer parks in Sontag, a community southeast of Rocky Mount, said Lt. Ewell Hunt of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office.
A federal grand jury in Roanoke returned a 45-count indictment last week, but it was sealed until after agents began making arrests Thursday.
A total of 19 people face charges as a result of the investigation. In addition to the 12 picked up Thursday morning, four were already in jail and three have fled the Franklin County area, Hunt said.
The indictment charges that a conspiracy to supply crack and powder cocaine to dealers in Franklin and Pittsylvania counties began in the summer of 1993; undercover drug buys appear to have been made from the defendants since September 1995.
The amount of crack involved in each count ranges from two rocks up to nearly 2 ounces - equal to roughly 280 rocks - an amount that carries a mandatory 10-year prison sentence in federal court.
Three mobile homes in the Chestnut Hill trailer park were searched Thursday. Agents seized about $13,000 in cash and a small amount of marijuana, but no crack was found, Hunt said.
Also seized were rifles, shotguns and handguns that were stolen in break-ins and allegedly traded for drugs. Two of the suspects are charged with using a gun while drug trafficking, a charge that carries a mandatory five-year sentence that must be served on top of any other prison time received.
Bond hearings for the defendants are scheduled to begin today before a federal magistrate.
Staff writer Jan Vertefeuille contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Short : 44 linesby CNB