Pubdate: Fri, 14 Dec 2001
Source: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
Copyright: 2001 Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas
Contact:  http://www.star-telegram.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/162
Author:  Deanna Boyd

NINE ARRESTED IN CRACK RAID ON THREE NORTH SIDE HOUSES

FORT WORTH - Cab driver Bob Spence was all smiles Thursday morning when he 
pulled onto a north Fort Worth street to pick up a regular customer and saw 
dozens of officers converged on three nearby homes.

Typically, the 3000 block of Loving Avenue is filled with crack cocaine 
dealers looking for their next sale, he said.

"Four o'clock on Sunday morning if you drive down here, they'll flag your 
car down," Spence said. "They'll just want to know how much you want to 
buy. ... They have guns and they won't hesitate to use them. That's why 
they keep these people living in fear over here."

But among those buying in recent months were undercover narcotics officers. 
Armed with search warrants and arrest warrants, about 50 officers converged 
on the three houses where occupants are suspected of working together to 
deal crack cocaine.

"It tickles me," Spence said. "It makes my day."

Arrested were Danny Favors, 47; Danny Releford, 22; Trojan Harrison, 33; 
Joyce R. Cook, 61; Kenneth Hogg, 38; Leon Hicks Jr., 40; Leonard Polty, 52; 
James Polty, age unknown; and Brinke Thomas, 40. Lt. Ric Clark, supervisor 
of the police narcotics unit, said the nine face charges that include 
delivery and/or possession of a controlled substance. Others had 
outstanding warrants, he said.

In addition to 16 grams of crack cocaine and 3 ounces of marijuana found 
during the raid, police seized an assault rifle, a pistol, a shotgun and 
almost $6,000 in cash, Clark said.

Other items seized, believed to be stolen or traded for drugs, included 
generators, tools, lawn mowers, bicycles, tires and stereo equipment, 
police said. Eleven cases of beer were also seized.

"One of the complaints about the house is they are bootleggers and that 
they sell alcohol after hours," said Lt. Duane Paul, a police spokesman.

Paul said there have been about 100 complaints of drug activity at the 
houses during the past three years. Police have conducted video 
surveillance of the houses, and this was the sixth search this year at two 
of the houses.

To help increase the chances that those arrested will serve more time if 
convicted, police said they plan to seek charges of engaging in organized 
criminal activity. The charges can bolster the punishment the suspects 
face, Clark said.

"This is going to enhance it. This is going to tie everyone up," Clark 
said. "Our goal when we leave there today is that people who live there can 
come back outside, can drive down their street and not get stopped by 
people selling dope."

Ray Jones, who has lived on Loving for six years, said he and his wife had 
given up battling the dealers.

"I argued with them, but they don't pay me no attention," said Jones, an 
elderly man who walks with a crutch. "I called police so many times - me 
and my old lady - they wouldn't do anything, so I just let it go."

But as he stepped out of his house to go to a doctor's appointment 
Thursday, Jones saw dozens of patrol, crime response team, narcotics, SWAT, 
vice, and canine officers swarming in and out of the houses and more than a 
dozen people being detained outside. He said he was eager to sit on his 
porch at night to see whether the police raid succeeded or if the dealers 
would be back.

Police said if the dealers return, so will officers.

"The pattern has been we hit them, they wait a few days, then they go back 
into business," Paul said. "If they go into business again, we're going to 
go back out there again, doing the things we did today."
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MAP posted-by: Beth