Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 2, 1994 TAG: 9409020055
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
"You come in our county, you're subject to be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," said Blacksburg Chief Bill Brown at a 7 a.m. news conference as officers were already leading handcuffed defendants to the magistrate's office and jail.
It was the culmination of "Operation Crackdown," an undertaking of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force, which spent the summer making undercover buys of cocaine partly in response to citizen complaints about drug trafficking at a southeast Blacksburg apartment complex.
The task force comprises the Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Virginia Tech police departments, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and the Virginia State Police.
Several residents of Heritage Acres apartments off Ellett Road had complained to police about car and foot traffic, gunshots and other drug-related activity going on at all hours of the night at the complex, Brown said.
While crack cocaine arrests have been made in Blacksburg before, this is the first time police have investigated and identified a drug market operating openly in the community.
Brown said the majority of the indictments involved either residents of the apartments or people suspected of selling at the apartments.
Last month, task force members searched two apartments at the complex after months of surveillance and gathering information about reported sales of cocaine. The search yielded $2,500 in cash, two pistols and some ammunition, brass knuckles, drug paraphernalia and plastic baggies and residues of suspected illegal drugs.
The residents of those apartments, Donald D. Trussell and Robert T. Calfee, face a combined 12 indictments on charges of distributing and conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Calfee also faces a charge of possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony.
Informants had told officers that drug trafficking increased at the apartments at 1776 Liberty Lane off Ellett Road the first of each month, coinciding with the arrival of government checks and paychecks, according to the search warrants.
David Schreiner, the apartment complex's manager, said last month that the searches did not come as a surprise and that he was glad police responded to the complaints.
Informants had told police that a Giles County man delivered crack cocaine to one apartment. Buys of $1,000 from the Giles supplier were routinely split up into $25 pieces for resale, according to the search warrant.
The supplier was not among the 27 people indicted by a special Montgomery County grand jury Tuesday, which returned 72 indictments. All of those charged face charges of distributing or conspiring to distribute cocaine, which carries a stiffer possible prison sentence than simply possessing the drug. Several of those indicted this week have previous criminal records, including possession of cocaine.
Most of those charged are in their 30s and 40s and are Blacksburg residents. The youngest charged is 19 while the oldest is 64. Both men live in Heritage Acres.
"The focus was on anyone we could get close to that was selling drugs," Brown said.
Mike Jones, Virginia Tech's police chief, said that while five of those charged were Virginia Tech employees, none were students.
James Michael Austin, 37, was lined up outside the Montgomery County Jail with others whom police had picked up within two hours after the round-up started. He called Tech Officer Larry Wooddell and Blacksburg Officer S.N. Lau, who picked him up at work, "fine officers" who were just doing their job.
Austin, who said he was working construction at Tech, is facing four charges of distributing cocaine and one charge of conspiring to distribute. But he denied he was a drug dealer.
"They're saying I sell drugs and I don't do drugs. If I did that I wouldn't be working and I wouldn't have an empty wallet there," he said as he nodded toward an officer holding his billfold. "Ain't got a penny in it."
Austin said he doubted he could make bond because he just started his job a couple months ago and he feared he would lose it once word of his arrest reached his employers.
"I've been working for 18 years. The county will take care of me the rest of the time, I guess. ... Never been in trouble in my life," Austin said.
A conviction for distributing cocaine carries a sentence of five to 40 years in prison and a $100,000 fine, Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith said.
Most of those being ferried between the magistrate's office and the jail Thursday morning seemed to be in good spirits. Some were laughing and talking with the officers who had brought them in, while others called out to bondsmen waiting nearby and lawyers who were entering the courthouse.
"They don't realize the seriousness of it yet," said Lt. Walter Farmer, an assistant special agent with the Virginia State Police.
Thursday, several of the task force members officers were sporting purple golf shirts embroidered with the insignia "Crackdown Summer '94."
"I'm glad it's over," said Detective D.K. Goodman, a sergeant with the Blacksburg Police Department, as he watched the people being brought to the jail. "But we're not done by any means and we have a lot more work to do."
Here is a list of those indicted and the charges against them:
David Lee Austin, 42, Pine View Trailer Park, Blacksburg, conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
James Michael Austin, 37, Jefferson Street Trailer Park, Blacksburg, four counts of distributing cocaine and one charge of conspiracy to distribute.
Regelia Banks, 39, 500 block of Woolwine Street, Blacksburg, three counts of distributing cocaine and one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Ricky D. Beasley, 33, 500 block of Stone Street, Christiansburg, a count of distributing cocaine.
Melvin Odell Bond, 39, 5600 block of Valley View Drive, Dublin, a count of distributing cocaine.
Onell Orlando Brown, 20, 600 block of School Lane, Christiansburg, a count of distributing cocaine.
Robert Thomas Calfee, 45, Heritage Acres, Blacksburg, three counts of distributing cocaine, two counts of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and one count of possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony. Court records indicate authorities also plan to ask that $2,500 confiscated during a search of his apartment be forfeited.
Larry Spencer Gravely, 26, Jefferson Street Trailer Park, Blacksburg, a count of distributing cocaine.
Joseph Maurice Gravely, 28, 100 block of Hill Street, Christiansburg, a count of distributing cocaine.
Dorothy R. Hendricks, 41, Tom's Creek Terrace Apartments, Blacksburg, a count of distributing cocaine.
Herbert Hill, 64, Heritage Acres, Blacksburg, a count of distributing cocaine.
Garryl Jon Jones, 19, Heritage Acres, three counts of distributing cocaine and one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Josette C. Jones, 41, Heritage Acres, Blacksburg, three counts of distributing cocaine.
David Fleming Keys Sr., 46, Dutch Village Apartments, Blacksburg, four counts of distributing cocaine.
James Tyronne Lewis, 45, 200 block of North Washington Avenue, Pulaski, two counts of distributing cocaine and one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Ronald Emmett Moore, 40, 300 block of Depot Street, Christiansburg, two counts of distributing cocaine.
Kimberly H. Page, 35, 700 block of East Roanoke Street, Blacksburg, three counts of distributing cocaine and three counts of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Adrienne Beverly Price, 30, Heritage Acres, Blacksburg, two counts of distributing cocaine.
Antionette Dowe Simmons, 29, 1000 block of Progress Street, Blacksburg, a count of distributing cocaine.
Derrick Saul Stokes, 38, Heritage Acres, Blacksburg, three counts of distributing cocaine.
Bobbie Todd, 52, 1800 block of South Main Street, Blacksburg, six counts of distributing cocaine and three counts of conspiracy.
Melvin David Todd, 30, 100 block of Patton Avenue, Roanoke, a count of distributing cocaine.
Bobby Nelson Trussell, 39, Nellies Cave Road, Blacksburg, a count of distributing cocaine.
Donald Dalton Trussell, 49, Heritage Acres, Blacksburg, three counts of distributing cocaine and four counts of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Christie L. Viney, 21, 500 block of Roanoke Street, Blacksburg, a count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Christopher Wayne Williams, 23, Arbors Apartments, Blacksburg, a count of distributing cocaine.
Police are withholding the name and charge against one person who had not been found Thursday.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***