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19 SUSPECTS NABBED IN I-65 DRUG ROADBLOCK

A sign Thursday at the side of southbound I-65 near Downtown flashed a
warning: "Drug interdiction ahead 1 mile. K-9 will be used." Around the
next curve, at the start of the ramp leading down a hill to 21st Street,
sat another flashing sign with a similar message. A white van was parked
nearby at the side of the road. Inside, two police officers watched as
some drivers and passengers threw items out the windows.

Just down the hill, police officers waved cars over to the side of the
road. In one of those cars, a white Oldsmobile, the driver sat behind the
wheel, staring at nothing in particular. Wendy, a drug-sniffing K-9 for
the Indianapolis Police Department, sat down and pushed her nose to the
rear near the trunk. IPD Lt. David Allender just laughed as detectives
popped the trunk and found a black trash bag stuffed with more than 20
pounds of marijuana neatly packaged in small plastic bags.

The bust was one of 19 made Thursday by officers during the roadblock, a
rarely used technique modeled after sobriety checkpoints. During the
four-hour operation, Allender said, he observed:

* A businessman identified as Dion Henderson, 36, of Frankfort start down
the exit ramp, then slam on the brakes. He threw the car in reverse and
backed up, his car in reverse and backed up, his tires smoking. A waiting
chase car stopped him. Henderson was arrested after searchersfound a
quarter-pound of marijuana under the seat. He was booked into the Marion
County Jail on a preliminary charge of more than 30 grams of marijuana.

* The driver and passenger of a pickup towing a small tractor on a trailer.
The pickup stopped on the ramp, and the pair began checking the trailer.
Allender said he saw them throw down a bag of drugs. James Hamilton, 34,
of Orleans and Troy Thacker, 22, of Paoli were arrested on a preliminary
charge of possession of marijuana and cocaine after a quarter-pound of
marijuana was found behind the truck's seat. Police said they also found
cocaine and pills.

* A driver who admitted he had no driver's license. As police started to
write him a ticket, they heard whimpering from the trunk. Inside they
found a malnourished pit bull. Allender said the driver was jailed for
cruelty to animals. The dog was taken to the city's animal shelter.

People who use drugs come in all shapes and sizes, Allender said. "We don't
stop drivers who fit a profile," he said. "We stopped drivers in random
groups of five and those we saw do something, like throw stuff out the
window when they saw the police cars." Allender said nearly 25 law
enforcement officials from IPD, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration
and the Marion County prosecutor's office participated in the
drug-interdiction project.

One was IPD Patrolman Tom Stitt, who had found the marijuana in the white
Oldsmobile with K-9 help. After the dog had alerted him to the drugs in
the trunk, Stitt reached down and patted the small German shepherd behind
the ears. "Good girl, Wendy," he said. The driver, Reynaldo Garcia, 29,
told police he lived in Chicago. But when he admitted he was in the
country illegally, he was arrested and turned over to immigration
authorities for deportation. IPD Sgt. Marshall DePew questioned Garcia. "He
said he didn't know there was drugs in the trunk, but he said he was not
surprised," DePew said. The man said he was ordered to drive the car from
Chicago to Indianapolis. Once in Indianapolis, he was supposed to get a
page that would tell him where to deliver the car. Not all of the arrests
included drug violations.

About noon, Allender and other detectives watched a man stop his car on the
ramp and get out. He was wearing sweatpants that had a strange square
bulge on the side. "Oh, hi," he said to approaching police, who asked about
the bulge. Sheepishly, the man pulled out three videotapes, which he
admitted he had just snatched from a Northside video rental store. "We
called the store and the manager told us the guy had just stolen three
tapes. We arrested him when the store said they would prosecute," Allender
said.

[PHOTO: Trunk of white Oldsmobile open with Indianapolis Police Department
officer in casual dress peering into it. A pile of marijuana filled
ziplock bags is in the foreground. CAPTION:] EVIDENCE: Indianapolis Police
Department Officer Chester Gooch searches the trunk of a car after more
than 20 pounds of marijuana were found and the car's driver was arrested at
an I-65 checkpoint. The operation nabbed 19 suspects.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski