14 SUSPECTS NABBED IN DRUG BUST; 2 AT LARGE

HUNTINGTON -- In one of the largest Huntington-area drug busts in recent
years, more than 70 law enforcement officers from 10 different agencies
rounded up 14 people Thursday morning who were indicted Tuesday by a
federal grand jury.

While 10 of the people arrested had Huntington addresses, officials said
the focus of the crackdown was aimed at crack cocaine suppliers from
Detroit and Columbus, Ohio.

The indictments stem from a two-year investigation of the Huntington
Violent Crime/Drug Task Force, which consists of officers from the
Huntington and Barboursville police departments, the Cabell County
Sheriff's Department, West Virginia State Police and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.

"Clearly, we are well aware that Detroit is a supply source for
Huntington," FBI Senior Agent Joe Ciccarelli said at a news conference
Thursday. "We want to take and build what we did today and take it back to
Detroit and New York and make cases there.

"Hopefully this sends the message particularly to those people who are not
residents of Huntington that this is not the place to come and do
business," he said.

Arrests for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and distributing a
controlled substance include:

William Henry Johnson, 53, Huntington; Maria Johnson, 42, of Huntington;
Deborah Jean Jones, 49, of Huntington; Mario Uraniz Moore, 33, of
Huntington; Ebony Starr Sturkey, 23, of Huntington; Charles Artist
Tapscott, 30, of Detroit; Anthony Lamont Johnson, 38, of Huntington; David
Lee McChristian, 49, of Huntington; Bobby James Mitchell, 23, of Detroit;
Marquis Cavell Davis, 26, of Detroit; and Ramere Marcell Ellis, 27 of Detroit.

Thomas Anthony Turner, 44, of Huntington was charged with possession with
intent to deliver prescription drugs. Jeffrey Brien Woolfolk, 22, and
Daniel Dwayne Johnson, 22, both of Huntington, were charged with conspiracy
to possess and with intent to deliver marijuana.

Warrants were issued for the arrest of two other men -- William McKinney,
32 of New York, N.Y., and Barry Vaughn, 21, of Detroit. Both are charged
with conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine.

Those arrested appeared Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Maurice G.
Taylor Jr. in Huntington.

At 11:15 a.m. Thursday, leaders of the respective police agencies gathered
in front of the federal courthouse to announce the arrests.

"We do things a lot of times that we can't talk about and don't want to
talk about to preserve ongoing investigations," Ciccarelli said. "We do a
lot of arrests in twos and threes and fours that have built a foundation
for something like this."

Ciccarelli said arrests were made to cut supply sources feeding drugs --
mostly crack cocaine and some prescription drugs -- into the Tri-State.

John P. Joyce, assistant agent in charge for the FBI Pittsburgh, said he
was impressed by Huntington's multi-agency Task Force and the roundup
Thursday that included the help of SWAT and K-9 units from HPD and the
Cabell County Sheriff's Department, helicopters from the West Virginia
National Guard and West Virginia State Police and hostage negotiators from
the FBI.

"We believe that this is truly a model for law enforcement not only for
here in West Virginia but across the country as we come together to address
these type of problems that impact our cities -- particular in relation to
drugs and violence," Joyce said. "By coming together, we can really impact
that problem."

Huntington Police Chief Gordon Ramey II said that this kind of cooperation
is essential in fighting crime, even more so now, with increasing budget cuts.

At one time, HPD had five members on the task force, now there is one.

"The joint task force is an excellent tool to use in fighting the war on
drugs," Ramey said. "We couldn't do this without the help of other
agencies. We are fortunate to have the task force to put a lot of man hours
in this."

Cabell County Sheriff Kim Wolfe said he hoped the arrests sent a message to
suppliers that the Huntington area is not an easy place to do business.

"This an ongoing investigation," Wolfe said. "We were just at a point that
we were ready to make arrests."

Lavender can be reached at lavender@herald-dispatch.com. Massey can be
reached at tmassey@herald-dispatch.com.