ERADICATING DRUG DEALERS

Laurel to lawmen who busted ring

- - Local and federal officials are to be praised for their efforts in
what is being hailed as one of the largest drug busts in our region's
history.

On May 9, more than a dozen individuals were arrested and charged in
relation to a drug ring that stretched from a tavern in the small
Cambria County community of Carrolltown all the way to Canada and California.

Since then, two more people have been arrested in connection with an
operation that brought illegal substances including cocaine,
marijuana, hallucinogenics and prescription drugs into the
Carrolltown-Bakerton area.

The investigation included the FBI, the state attorney general's
office, county law-enforcement officials and police in Carrolltown,
Patton, Ebensburg and Portage.

Detective Kevin Price of the Cambria County Drug Task Force said of
the drug ring: "This organization was massive."

The investigation focused on the [redacted] family and the business
they owned and operated -- Jerry's Tavern on North Main Street in
Carrolltown.

Investigators said the ring's kingpin was [name1 redacted]. He was
allegedly assisted in the multimillion-dollar operation by his uncle,
[name2 redacted], and parents, [name3 redacted] and [name4 redacted]. All
face federal charges. [name1 redacted] wife, [name5 redacted], has also
been arrested.

As details emerge, we are learning that:

* The operation imported drugs from Ohio, California and Oregon as
well as Canada -- with additional arrests likely in those places.

* Thirteen search warrants were issued in Cambria County. One of those
involved [name1 redacted] and [name5 redacted] home, and turned up an
arsenal of rifles and shotguns, more than 400 marijuana plants and
growing equipment, large baggies of cocaine and other drug
paraphernalia.

* Additional search warrants were issued -- one in Grove City and two
in Oregon.

* Another defendant in the case is [name6 redacted], owner of Mr. Pizza in
Northern Cambria and chairman of the Northern Cambria and Spangler
Municipal Authority.

We'll learn more in the days and weeks ahead concerning this powerful
crime operation that -- almost unbelievably -- was working right under
people's noses in rural northern Cambria County.

Residents of our region should be very happy that law-enforcement
entities have broken up this dangerous organization, taking harmful
drugs off our streets.

The towns of Bakerton and Carrolltown as well as the rest of our
region are safer places now to live and work.