THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 14, 1994 TAG: 9409140505
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JODY R. SNIDER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Grand jury indictments in hand, police moved against 15 suspected drug dealers over the past two days in an operation brought on by complaints from Camptown residents fed up with drug dealing and gunfire in their community.
By late Tuesday, six people had been arrested in a sweep from the south to the north of this western Tidewater county. An Isle of Wight grand jury had returned 31 indictments Monday against the 15 suspects on charges ranging from cocaine distribution to firearms possession.
Six sheriff's deputies and two undercover officers began a sweep of arrests that began late Monday. Two undercover officers, one each borrowed from the Virginia State Police and Southampton County Sheriff's Department, identified suspects as they rode with county officers in unmarked cars.
The indictments were a result of two undercover narcotics operations that began three months ago after a group of Camptown residents confronted Isle of Wight Sheriff C.W. Phelps about the drug problem in their small community. The indictments were made based on drug buys made through informants and/or undercover officers, Phelps said.
``These same people had been selling on South Street in Franklin,'' in neighboring Southampton County, ``before law enforcement officials there ran them out and they came into Isle of Wight,'' Phelps said.
When the dealers came to Camptown about eight months ago, citizens began to complain that the neighborhood was going bad, Phelps said.
Two weeks ago, for example, the parking lot of the Southern Isle of Wight Recreational Center, near Camptown, was jammed with cars and people - sometimes more than 100 people at a time. But police say few of them were there to use the recreational facilities - most were there to strike a crack cocaine deal.
``We had reports of people stopping cars in the middle of the streets,'' Phelps said. ``They were harassing the residents who live there. Guns were being fired in the middle of the night. . . .
``People were scared.''
Shortly after drug investigations began in Camptown, Phelps said, police were given information that led them to dealers in northern Isle of Wight, where the greater majority of indictments were aimed.
Monday night and Tuesday morning, as Sheriff's detective C.B. Nurney patrolled Camptown, the streets were strangely empty.
``But don't mistake that for a victory,'' Nurney said. ``They've just gone underground for a while. They'll be back.''
The following people were named in the indictments, according to Lt. Randy Gardner, who could provide no addresses or further identification for some of the suspects:
Kevin Deanare Lewis, 21, of Camptown, charged with three counts of distribution of cocaine; Lee Brown, 39, Camptown, two counts of distribution of cocaine; Reggie Burchett, 25, Windsor, two counts of distribution of cocaine; Kirk A. Pierce, 19, Suffolk, one count of distribution of cocaine; Lawrence Cypress, Smithfield, one count of distribution of cocaine; Barry Allen, Smithfield, one count of distribution of cocaine; Toby Thomas, Smithfield, two counts of distribution of cocaine; Darrell Johnson, Smithfield, one count of distribution of cocaine; Jack Joyner, Windsor, one count of distribution of cocaine; Jerry Joyner, Windsor, three counts of distribution of cocaine and one count of possessing a firearm while selling cocaine; Anthony Young, Suffolk, three counts of distribution of cocaine and one count of possession of a firearm while selling cocaine; John Johnson Jr., Suffolk, three counts of distribution of cocaine and one count of possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute cocaine.
A 16-year-old Windsor resident was also indicted on two counts of distribution of cocaine, Gardner said. There were also four indictments against two people whose full names police did not know.
KEYWORDS: DRUG ARREST STING OPERATION COCAINE by CNB