TRIDENT ARRESTS DOUBLE IN 1999

GLENWOOD SPRINGS -- Since local officials assumed control over the Two
Rivers Drug Enforcement Team in late 1998, arrests have more than
doubled and confiscation of drug-related currency increased
seven-fold, District Attorney Mac Myers of the Ninth Judicial District
announced Friday.

TRIDENT, the drug enforcement task force with members from agencies in
Garfield and Rio Blanco counties, and the police departments of
Carbondale, Glenwood, Rifle and Basalt, stepped up its patrols toward
the end of 1998 after severing ties with the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration, which had overseen the force. By making the task force
strictly a local operation, TRIDENT sought to go after street-level
drug activity, something the old TRIDENT did not do, going instead
after high profile and regional dealers.

In 1999, TRIDENT agents made 131 drug arrests, more than doubling the
63 arrests made in 1998.

In 1999, TRIDENT officers seized 1,590 grams of cocaine, 289 grams of
methamphetamine, more than 67 pounds of marijuana, 164 marijuana
plants and 13 ounces of psilocybin mushrooms. In all, the cache of
drugs had a street value of more than $400,000.

TRIDENT officers also seized $72,840 in cash, nine vehicles, assorted
weaponry, including a AK-47, a night-vision scope and assorted small
arms and even a karaoke machine wherein drug dealers had hidden $7,500
wrapped in tin foil--the proceeds of drug distribution.

Myers said confiscated weapons that member agencies do not use
for official police business are destroyed.

Myers added that the agency cannot confiscate someone's money or
property simply based on suspicion that it is connected with drug
operations. A judge reviews the prosecution's claims that the property
was drug-connected. If a judge rules in favor of the prosecution,
TRIDENT officers and police departments use the money for trainingofficers,
purchasing equipment and upgrading computer systems.

Myers said it would not make sense for the court to just punish a drug
dealer without taking away their equipment that helps them in their
dealing.

"This is the fruit of their drug trade," Myers said.

In 1998, the Ninth Judicial District Attorney's office netted 70
convictions -- 15 for distribution of cocaine, five for distribution
of marijuana, 18 for possession of cocaine, seven for possession of
marijuana and one for possession of methamphetamine. Additionally, two
people were convicted for possession of hallucinogenic drugs, one for
cultivation of marijuana and 16 for other convictions.

Conviction totals for 1999 have not yet been released as some of last
year's cases still need to be resolved in court.

Myers, who also serves as TRIDENT's chairman, said the agency's first
year's successes have given it a reputation member officers can only
build upon.

"We are always looking betters ways to do what we do," Myers said. He
added that with an increased number of arrests, once skeptical police
departments and individuals are helping to combat drug dealing in the
region by calling in tips.

"It used to be the phone never rang," Myers said.

The D.A. said the battle of fighting drug use and distribution
can begin with people instructing their children on the dangers of drugs
and getting their friends and relatives to kick the habit. Myers
called the prosecution of drug offenders the "personal tragedies of
addiction."

"There's that whole other side," Myers said. "We can try to recognize
the impact upon the community."

In addition to the increased numbers of arrests and forfeitures last
year, a few occurrences of TRIDENT-related drug enforcement stood out.

David Roy Henderson, 28, of Rifle was sentenced on Nov. 9 to 9 and 1/2
years in prison after he pleaded guilty to cocaine distribution and
violating bond conditions. Henderson was arrested on three separate
occasions in his Rifle home over a three-month period by TRIDENT officers.

On May 26, Carbondale residents Blanca Isiordia Flores, 26 and Jose
Alfredo Verra Figuroa, 22, both received five-year sentences for drug
distribution. The D.A.'s office argued that the couple's 7-year-old
daughter served as an interpreter for a drug transaction, although a
defense attorney argued that never happened.

On Sept. 29, TRIDENT officers wearing ski masks, burst into a Rifle
woman's apartment. An informant told the officers that drug dealing
was taking place inside the apartment. The information turned out to
be false. TRIDENT officers apologized to the woman and offered to pay
for any damage they might have caused to the apartment door.