THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 3, 1995 TAG: 9505030436
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Narcotics investigators were disappointed when Nathaniel A. Richardson Jr.'s bond was reduced to $250,000 after the slaying of his girlfriend in March.
It allowed the 22-year-old murder suspect to get out of jail and back on the street. Police say it also allowed Richardson, a man they allege is one of the city's biggest crack dealers, to stay in business.
But Monday night, Richardson's reduced bond began to look like a lucky break. At about 8:30 p.m. police raided a Southside Gardens apartment on 5th Street, confiscating $72,000 worth of crack cocaine.
Police said it was the largest drug cache confiscated in Portsmouth.
Officers arrested Richardson and two other men. Investigators said the three men were the leaders of a drug ring that brought more than $6 million worth of crack cocaine a year into the city.
Richardson, who lives in the 800 block of Lincoln St., is known by the nickname ``Skeet.'' He was charged with distributing drugs, conspiring to distribute and possession of a firearm with drugs.
Also charged were James A. Whitaker, 29, of 1100 block of South St., and Joseph R. Dodd, 24, of the 900 block of 5th St. Dodd allegedly was one of Richardson's lieutenants and was in charge of the drug operation at Southside Gardens.
Recovered from Dodd's apartment were $5,840 in cash, a .38-caliber handgun and two cellular telephones, police said.
Officer Tammy Early, who has been investigating the drug operation since March, said Richardson has been one of the city's biggest crack suppliers for at least three years, concentrating his efforts in the housing projects and apartments near Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
``Richardson is the main man out there and everyone answers to him,'' Early said.
She said Richardson brought the drugs into the city by the kilogram and distributed them among seven or eight ``runners.''
Richardson has been charged in the March 31 shooting death of his girlfriend, 19-year-old Telisha Johnson.
Investigators said they were told by Richardson's associates that Johnson was approached by three men with guns in front of her apartment in the Washington Park housing project.
The next day, however, police charged Richardson after their inquiry began pointing away from the story supplied by Richardson's friends and toward an argument between Richardson and Johnson.
By Tuesday night, Richardson had been released again on bond. No details were available about the decision to release him. Dodd and Whitaker had been released on bond earlier in the day, according to sheriff's deputies.
Early said she thought Richardson had enough money to finance a bond of any size. ``The only way to keep him from making bond is to set no bond,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Nathaniel A. Richardson Jr.
KEYWORDS: DRUG ARREST by CNB