Pubdate: Fri, 15 Feb 2002
Source: Carthage Press, The (MO)
Contact:  http://www.carthagepress.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1731
Author: Glenita Browning

OPERATION UNTANGLES WEB OF DRUG DEALERS,FIREARM SALES

Cocaine, not methamphetamine, was the focus of an extensive drug raid on 
Wednesday in Jasper County.

Residents were awakened to the sound of helicopters flying overhead and 
large convoys of police cars at homes in Carthage. Other law enforcement 
were serving search warrants at rural homes and some in Joplin and Webb City.

"We were the recipient of good fortune," said Carthage Police Chief Dennis 
Veach of the raids.

This extensive investigation began in the fall of 1999, Veach explained, 
when Kevin Mitchell, a Carthage police officer assigned to the Jasper 
County Drug Task Force, became interested in a Hispanic person for drug 
trafficking. In checking with Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), 
he learned investigators in Springfield were also asking about the 
individual's activities.

Over the past two years, Mitchell has worked with members of the 
Springfield task force, Combined Ozarks Metropolitan Enforcement Team 
(COMET), which has state and federal officers as members. These agencies 
have resources beyond the capacity of the local police department and task 
force, Veach said.

Over the two years, Mitchell has been the local contact, working closely 
with federal agents and the Missouri State Highway Patrol to cultivate the 
evidence and build cases. A Grand Jury in January issued indictments 
against 36 individuals and state charges were filed on Monday by the Jasper 
County Prosecutors against 26 people. Capt. Tony Coleman, Jasper County 
Sheriff, said not all of the arrests have been made. They include a 
juvenile, under the age of 17, whose name was not released.

Arrested on state charges were Maria E. Baron, 18, Christy Drugg, 37, 
Timothy Corben, 38, Julio Mojica, 19, Margarita Flores, 45, Pascual 
Rodriguez, 43, Oscar Flores, 42, Terrell Prine, 17, Michah Strickland, 17, 
Bradley Clark, 43, Eric Beckner, 21, Elmer Cook, 53, Tammy Hood, 31, Walter 
Smith, 19, Misty Hensley, 24, Erica Allen, 26. No addresses were available 
for the above. Also arrested were Ralph-Fael Hands, 21 and Vicki M. 
Tarkington, 20, both of the state of Oklahoma.

It developed into a federal investigation with many more federal 
indictments rather than state charges. Warrants are outstanding on an 
additional seven individuals.

The sting, composed of every single Carthage police officer except one who 
was on vacation, gathered momentum with the convergence of more than 180 
law enforcement officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Bureau 
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization 
Service and Jasper County Drug Task Force.

Veach said the operation began at 4:30 a.m. when officers met at Precious 
Moments. There they broke into 27 teams, ranging from three to 10 officers 
per team, depending on the case. A Carthage officer was with every one of 
the teams.

The significance of the sting was in the multiple kilograms of cocaine. 
Additionally, these individuals had associations with California, Texas and 
outside the United States.

Also, the arrests broke up the drug operation from the top to the bottom, 
from those wholesaling the drugs to those selling it on the street corner.

"It's really unusual for an operation to go from the bottom to the top," 
Veach said.

That doesn't mean the arrests got rid of all the drug dealers in town.

"It's a supply-demand driven crime. As long as the demand is there, there 
will be a supply," he said.

Veach said people always ask about the impact of large drug busts. He said 
the biggest impact are the 50 people sitting in jail. But the impact is 
never really known.

"We don't know how many (users) will quit, stopped, moved or never started 
because of these arrests," Veach stated.

With Kevin Provins, the Carthage DARE officer, making drug arrests 
yesterday, it will have an impact on his classes today, Veach said.

Overall, the magnitude of the operation was determined by the federal 
agents who ran the operation. Veach said there were arrests made in three 
other states, although he wasn't sure of which states.

"There were a lot of police but there was a lot of territory," Veach said.

The search warrants were served simultaneously. Those people not at home 
were arrested throughout the day with others remaining outstanding.
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