THREE-MONTH PROBE RESULTS IN 70 BEING CHARGED WITH DRUG OFFENSES

Greenville Police arrested 44 people and were looking for two dozen more on
Wednesday following a three-month investigation targeting "street-level"
crack cocaine dealers.

The department's Vice and Narcotics Bureau issued a total of 153 warrants
on 70 individuals accused of selling undercover officers and informants
crack cocaine throughout several communities in the city. Officers named
the investigation "Operation New Year."

All of the buys were caught on video and audio surveillance, said
Greenville Police Chief Willie Johnson. "There's not going to be any
question about whether they sold the drugs or not."

Lt. Mike Gambrell, police spokesman, said 44 people were picked up
Wednesday and that the 26 others charged were still being sought.

One of those arrested on Wednesday was Larry Kenneth Anderson, 21, of 113
Sullivan St., who was charged with two counts of distributing crack cocaine
and two counts of distributing the drug within a half mile of a school.

Anderson had faced accessory charges in the death of Greenville County
deputy Marcus Whitfield in August of 1999. During the trial, prosecutors
dropped those charges to force Anderson to testify against Cory Sentell
Harris, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and assault and
battery and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

According to court testimony, Anderson was in the car with Harris when it
struck a deputy. Anderson and the others face as much as 15 years in prison
on each charge, according to Gambrell.

He and Johnson said the arrests should send a message to other dealers that
drug dealing won't be tolerated. The arrests were made in the communities
of Nicholtown, Greenline, Pleasant Valley, Green/Haynie Street, Cotton
Street, Southern Side and West Greenville.

Johnson said the investigation was just part of a multi-faceted effort to
curb drug dealing. The first phase ended in October, when officers arrested
44 people in connection with the "medium-level" dealing of club drugs at
area nightclubs. Johnson said the third phase is the department's
participation in the DEA Task Force that is targeting the people who bring
drugs to the area.