NEWPORT NEWS: POLICE EARN REBATE ON DRUG ASSETS

Drugs paid off big -- not for four convicted Peninsula dealers, but for the
Newport News Police Department, which has claimed a sizeable percentage of
the illegal proceeds.

Federal prosecutor Paul McNulty presented Police Chief Dennis A. Mook with
three checks totaling about $104,000 at police headquarters Tuesday.
Forfeited property included homes in Hampton and Newport News, guns,
jewelry, vehicles and bank accounts.

Newport News vice and narcotics officers led the multi-agency
investigation, which prosecuted four Hampton men involved in an 11-year
drug operation that ended in March 2000.

The investigation targeted Charles Williams, the biggest cocaine dealer on
the Peninsula during that period, police said. Williams, two brothers and
an associate distributed more than 300 kilograms of powdered and crack
cocaine valued at more than $6 million. They ran the Williams Home
Improvement Co. on the Peninsula as a front for the operation, police said.

Newport News police are credited with working long hours, conducting
surveillance and developing informants who provided valuable information.

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"Because of these actions, all of Hampton Roads is a better place to live,"
McNulty said, commending Newport News Det. Carl Cespedes and Sgt. Mike
Davenport.

Other localities throughout Hampton Roads and various federal agencies
played a role in the prosecutions, but as the leader, Newport News police
reaped the largest share of the forfeiture assets, said Deanna Warren,
spokesperson for the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District
of Virginia.

There was extensive paperwork involved in removing liens on the various
forfeited properties, Warren said. This explains why the checks were only
issued recently even though the defendants were sentenced in September
2000, she said.

The money collected will be pooled with other forfeiture funds to buy
equipment for the department, Chief Mook said. More prosecutions and
forfeitures of assets are ongoing, he said.

The four defendants, all from Hampton, were indicted by a federal grand
jury in Norfolk's U.S. District Court in February 2000. Two days before
their scheduled trials in July that year, the defendants agreed to plead
guilty to conspiracy to distribute, and possessing with intent to
distribute, crack and powdered cocaine.

Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr. sentenced the defendants in September 2000,
with prison times varying depending on their criminal history, spokesperson
Warren said.

Charles Williams, now 41, received 121/2 years; his brother, 42-year-old
Benjamin Williams, 14 years; another brother, 44-year-old Lawrence
Williams, almost 22 years; and an associate, 40-year-old Kevin Dildy, 191/2
years, Warren said. All prison terms will be followed by five years of
probation, she said.

Localities and agencies involved in the investigation can apply to the U.S.
attorney's office for a percentage of the forfeiture assets, depending on
their level of contribution to the cases.

Other agencies involved in the cases include the Drug Enforcement
Administration, the FBI, Virginia State Police and the Hampton Police Division.