DRUG ARREST APPARENTLY NOT CONNECTED TO ATTACK

Two days after three men were accused of trying to kill a federal informant
during a drug deal in south Longview, law officers returned to the same
neighborhood to arrest a suspected drug dealer.

David Gibson, 29, was taken into custody at 3 p.m. Thursday by Gregg County
sheriff's Deputy Tracy Freeman at Gibson's home, 103 Cummins St., on
warrants from Rusk County. Gibson was charged with one count of delivery of
a controlled substance and two counts of possession of a controlled
substance, all felony charges involving crack cocaine.

Justice of the Peace B.H. Jameson Friday set bonds for Gibson at $47,000
for a possession charge and the delivery charge. The third possession
charge, with a $7,500 bond, was added when Gibson, who is from Henderson,
was moved to the Rusk County Jail.

The charges against Gibson don't appear to be related to the Tuesday arrest
of Octavia "Tay" Jerom Thomas, 20, Tony "Little T" Drial Howard, 22, and
Anthony "Ant" Jermain Anderson, 22, who are accused of trying to shoot an
undercover informant working for the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration as the unidentified man tried to buy $2,000 worth of crack
cocaine from them during an undercover sting at 105 Cummins St., the house
next to Gibson's residence.

A tip to Rusk County Crime Stoppers led investigators to Gibson at 103
Cummins, said Scott Webb, crime prevention officer with the Rusk County
sheriff's office.

He said police have been looking for Gibson for some time.

"I know one warrant has been out for at least six months," Webb said.

"We tried to catch him in a warrant roundup, but we missed him. When the
warrants came out, he fled to Longview. He went over there to hide."

Thomas, Howard and Anderson were in the Gregg County Jail Friday on
$100,000 bond each, where they've been held since they were charged Tuesday
with attempted murder and aggravated robbery.

According to arrest reports, Thomas fired at least one of three shots at
the informant as the trio tried to steal the $2,000 the informant brought
to 105 Cummins to buy crack cocaine from them.

The man fought with the trio, briefly barricaded himself inside a room at
the home, then jumped out of a window and hid in the woods to escape the
three men until agents from the DEA and the Gregg County Organized Drug
Enforcement unit arrived.