These Are Higher-Level Drug Dealers, Not Penny-Ante Street Thugs, Sheriffs Say

WYTHE COUNTY DRUG SWEEP TARGETS 30 SUSPECTS

Although this is the largest drug sweep in Wythe County, a majority of those
indicted are from Pulaski County.

WYTHEVILLE -- Law enforcement authorities in Wythe and Pulaski counties
began arresting 30 people Tuesday on drug indictments following a five-month
undercover investigation in both localities.

A Wythe County grand jury heard hours of testimony and worked into the night
Monday before issuing 63 indictments including possession of and intent to
sell cocaine and marijuana and controlled drugs such as the pain-killer
Oxycotin.

Wythe County Sheriff Kermit Osborne said he thinks this is the biggest sweep
of cocaine dealers in the history of Wythe County. Twenty-two men and eight
women were indicted, some on multiple charges.

"This is an outstanding example of what can be accomplished when law
enforcement officials cooperate by attacking a multi-jurisdictional problem
with a multi-jurisdictional response," Osborne said. "These are significant
arrests of higher-level drug dealers, not some penny-ante group of street
thugs."

"These are not street-level dealers," agreed Pulaski County Sheriff Jim
Davis. He said authorities in Pulaski County held off on potential arrests
there to give the joint crackdown time to work.

The Wythe County and Pulaski County Sheriffs' Offices, Pulaski Police
Department, state police and federal Drug Enforcement Administration
provided manpower, data and equipment in the investigation. "We anticipate
more arrests coming out of this, state as well as federal," said Austin
Hall, special agent with the state police Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

The list of indictments gave only names and not addresses, but Osborne said
a majority of those indicted are from Pulaski County. Most of the
distribution was coming out of Pulaski County, he said, even though all the
activities leading to the charges took place in Wythe.

"Drug crime is not a crime that knows about county lines. ... What this has
done is taken some of our major drug dealers off the street in Pulaski,"
said Pulaski Police Chief Herb Cooley. "I think crack cocaine is starting to
make headway in Southwest Virginia ... and this sort of joint operation is
what we're going to have to continue to do to stem this sort of thing."

Osborne said the joint investigation started after resident complaints and
informants showed that larger quantities of crack cocaine were coming into
this area.

He said drug abuses are a direct cause of other crimes, as users get hooked
and then rob or steal to get money to support their habit. He said Wythe
County has had three armed robberies in the past year after several years
without any, and at least two of those were directly related to drugs.

Davis estimated that half the robberies that happen in Pulaski County have
their basis in drug use.

Cooley said Oxycotin, which comes in pain pills that users cut up and snort
or melt for direct injection, is becoming the drug of choice by abusers.
"We've seen an increase in thefts and most related back to Oxycotin," he said.