POLICE AWAKEN COUPLE FOR AT WRONG HOUSE FOR DRUG SWEEP

In the wee hours of the morning on Oct. 24, Ethel and Joseph Welch were awakened by
the sound of banging on their door.

"I heard a boom, boom, boom, boom at my door," Ethel Welch
said.

The couple peeked out of their Wise Street home to see their yard full
of armed police officers.

"We didn't know what to do or what they wanted," Ethel Welch said. "We
were scared and confused."

The Welches say state, local and federal officers participating in
"Alexandria Narcotics Winter Sweep" served an arrest warrant at their
house, although the suspect being sought didn't live there. The Police
Department issued a public apology Thursday to the Welch family for
the mistake.

But the Welches said Friday that the whole incident could have been
avoided if the Police Department had listened to them two and a half
months ago.

The couple said they went to the department and told an officer that
nobody lived at the house except the two of them and offered for
police to come see for themselves. In addition, they talked to another
officer on the phone about the situation, they said.

"They (police) had plenty of time to check out our story and make sure
where the guy lived before coming" during the drug sweep, Joseph Welch
said.

Assistant Police Chief Jimmy Hay confirmed the couple came to the
department and that a mistake was made by the department. He said the
department is doing all it can to ensure that a mistake like the one
on Oct. 24 does not happen again to the Welches or any other family.

Police said there is no foolproof way to ensure an arrest warrant is
being served at the proper home. Hay said the department goes through
several measures to try to keep a mistake from occurring.

Officers check drivers' licenses, identification cards and prior
arrest reports to link a suspect with the correct address, Hay said.
In addition, officers get information from street informants on
suspects' locations and try to verify it.

"Alexandria Narcotics Winter Sweep" was a nine-month undercover drug
operation that led to more than 20 arrests of suspected mid-level and
street-level drug dealers, police said.

Ethel Welch said she and her husband know the suspect who was being
sought, but he has never lived at their house. She added they do not
know where he is. Police are still attempting to find him.

A couple of months ago, the Welches noticed a car slowing and stopping
near the house. It did it twice. Concerned, they went to the Police
Department with the car's license number. Upon speaking with an
officer, they learned the car was part of a narcotics
investigation.

The couple, who has lived in their home for 35 years, told officers no
one lived with them. A suspect had provided police with their address.
They asked for their address to be removed from the suspect's record.

They had hoped everything would be taken care of, but then came the
morning of Oct. 24.

The couple said they were already startled after federal agents served
a search warrant the day before at the Harris Street home of Sean
Molette. Harris Street runs behind Wise Street.

Molette was arrested on charges of five counts of distribution of
crack cocaine.

The Welches were awakened by pounding at their door about 4:30 a.m. To
their surprise, officers were in their yard and almost surrounding the
house. A K-9 dog also was there.

They were not fully dressed when they answered the door, they said,
and one of the officers pushed the door completely open, placing them
in the spotlight.

They were told the officers had a warrant and asked if the suspect
lived there.

Ethel Welch said she and her husband were confused and did not know
what the officers were talking about. She said they insisted they were
the only two people living there, and the officers left. Ethel Welch
said she and her husband were rudely told to go back to bed as the
officers left.

"It was humiliating," Ethel Welch said.

The pair said they have never had any trouble with the law, and their
"record is impeccable." They were bombarded with questions from
neighborhood residents about what had happened and what the police
wanted with them.

After they met with Police Chief Gary Moore, Alexandria Mayor Ned
Randolph and City Councilmen Charles Fredrick Smith and Everett Hobbs
this week, a public apology was issued, and the couple's address was
removed from the suspect's record.

"This wouldn't have happened if someone had listened to us," Ethel
Welch said. "It was very traumatic for us."