SEGUIN CRACK SWEEP SNARES 14

More than a dozen Seguin residents were arrested Friday in an early morning
roundup targeting 10 men and four women charged with peddling crack cocaine.

Guadalupe County Sheriff Arnold Zwicke said the 14 suspects operated
independently, or in groups of two or three, as street-level vendors. All
were charged in federal court with intending to distribute the chunky and
relatively cheap form of smokable cocaine.

If convicted, most face five-year mandatory minimum sentences that rank
among the more intensely debated penalties in federal law, and a maximum of
up to 40 years in prison.

The arrests represent the largest roundup in Seguin since 2000, when seven
residents were indicted in a lucrative cocaine-trafficking conspiracy that
reached into San Antonio.

Zwicke said he believed the crack vendors filled the vacuum left by the
cocaine arrests two years ago. The sheriff predicted still more dealers may
set up shop, but that authorities would return again "to take them out of
business."

"Evidently, there's a large market for crack here in Seguin," Zwicke said.

The arrests resulted from several crack buys made by undercover officers as
part of a multi-agency investigation that included, among others, the
sheriff's office, narcotics task forces based in Seguin and Floresville,
Seguin police, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Javier Pena, the DEA agent in charge of the San Antonio office, said
authorities estimate the vendors altogether sold more than two pounds of
crack a week - roughly enough to supply more than 200 people with a day's
worth of the drug.

Starting before sunrise, about 50 officers split into teams of about five
and met little resistance apart from one man who heckled officers. Officials
said one man was apprehended at a halfway house where he was staying after
his recent release from federal prison.

By afternoon, almost all 14 were formally charged in federal court. Two were
released on bond. The rest remained in custody pending bond hearings set for
the coming weeks.

Federal penalties for crack distribution are the subject of an ongoing
debate that has split policymakers, because crack violations are punished
more severely than crimes involving powder cocaine. Racial politics have
further charged the controversy.

The average sentence for crack crimes is 118 months, compared to 74 months
for powder cocaine offenses, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
The overwhelming majority of those charged with crack violations - about 85
percent in 2000 - are black.

The Seguin arrests did not deviate far from the pattern. All but three
defendants were African American.

The sentencing commission in May recommended narrowing the 44-month
difference between the average crack and cocaine punishments to 12 months.
The Bush administration, however, has opposed the proposal.