THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 11, 1996 TAG: 9609110500
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: 67 lines
The undercover drug agent behind last December's Seasons Greetings drug sting testified Tuesday that Leroy ``Boogie'' McClease allegedly sold him crack cocaine seven times.
McClease, 47, of Manteo is charged with 25 felony counts, including possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell and deliver, conspiracy to sell and deliver and maintenance of a dwelling for purposes of selling a controlled substance.
Prosecutor Robert Trivette said McClease's case was the first of the 52 people arrested in the drug sweep to come to trial. McClease has pleaded not guilty.
Jeff Morales, an agent for the State Alcohol Law Enforcement Division, said he initially made contact with McClease, whom police considered an area drug kingpin, through a confidential informant who introduced him to the local drug scene. Morales said he gained McClease's trust when he first stopped by his Fernando Street residence seeking to buy a bag of crack cocaine after he told him he knew two of his children from earlier drug purchases.
``He threw it at me and said that it was okay, that if I knew them it was cool,'' Morales testified.
The agent said he bought crack from McClease seven times between August and November 1995. Morales, a former New York City police officer, said he does not consume any drugs as part of his job.
Dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt and blue jeans, the defendant sat attentively next to his attorney Randy Jones, glancing frequently back at his wife in the audience.
In opening arguments, Jones painted McClease, who he said can't read or write, as a family man who ran into bad luck. Formerly a truck driver and a maintenance worker for the National Park Service, Jones told the jury that his client was left disabled by a car accident eight years ago.
``He and his wife have worked hard to maintain a humble residence,'' Jones said. ``Unfortunately, shorty after the accident, he became addicted to crack cocaine.''
Jones said McClease is now ``crack-free.'' He has been held in Dare County Detention Center for nine months, unable to make the $200,000 bond.
Trivette told jurors that state will prove that McClease repeatedly sold varying quantities of crack to Morales. Some of the evidence presented Monday during Morales's testimony include a gun and several plastic bags enclosing smaller bags filled with cocaine.
``Let me tell you, agent Morales is the key to the state's case,'' Trivette said. ``Every piece of crack cocaine in this case came from this defendant.''
Before Superior Court Judge Jerry Tillett dismissed the jury for the day, Morales revealed under the prosecutor's questioning that the sale of 28 grams of crack cocaine at the drug agent's Nags Head condo was videotaped by another agent. The transaction took place in November in Morales' living room.
Jurors will likely view the tape when the trial resumes at noon Thursday.
Attorneys took most of the day to select the nine-woman, three-man panel. The first three candidates were dismissed almost immediately, two because they had a family member who was arrested in the Season's Greetings roundup. Several more knew other people who were arrested. Another prospect was dismissed because he was arrested 25 years ago in an undercover drug operation, and said he still harbored resentment about it. Two younger men were rejected because they said they had concerns about police entrapment.
All members of the jury, including two female alternates, are white. McClease is black.
McClease was arrested in the pre-dawn hours at his home as part of the Season's Greetings operation. He was one of 52 suspects police had warrants on that morning. The raid was the largest drug bust to date in the Albemarle area.
KEYWORDS: TRIAL DRUGS ILLEGAL by CNB