OPERATION 'POWDER FREE' UNDER WAY IN VAN ALSTYNE

VAN ALSTYNE - Operation "Powder Free" has been quietly underway for at
least 14 months, with Van Alstyne Police Department tying up evidence into
rock-solid cases before presenting them to the Grayson County District
Attorney's Office.

Grayson County grand juries filed drug charges over time against 16 people
with 49 felony counts and four misdemeanor counts. Those suspects range in
age from 14 to 51 years of age and the drugs involved include marijuana,
cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and prescription pills. To further break
down those named in the indictments, there are two juveniles and 14 adults,
14 males and 2 females, said Van Alstyne Police Chief Robert Spindle reported.

Six suspects named in the warrants have been previously arrested during the
investigation, involving 29 charges, with one of those being a Van Alstyne
man now serving eight years in a federal prison. Those arrests also took 17
guns off the street, Spindle said.

During the sting operation, Van Alstyne police worked with officers from
McKinney, Gunter, and Sherman police departments, and deputies from both
Grayson and Collin counties' sheriff's offices. Information gathered and
equipment were shared back and forth with the other agencies.

Spindle said that every officer in the department set out Wednesday
afternoon to locate the 10 remaining suspects named in the sealed
indictments. Between 3 and 6 p.m. they brought in five of those suspects,
then went back out seeking the others for arrest. The 10 remaining suspects
are charged with 24 drug counts, Spindle said.

Spinning off from Operation Powder Free, McKinney police made two narcotics
raids and arrested four people on felony drug charges, seizing a "large
amount of narcotics and money during those raids," Spindle said. "Gunter
police also arrested one person off information from one of our cases."

About Operation Powder Free, Spindle said, "One thing led to another. We
could only make arrests when it didn't tip our hands or inform the other
suspects of the ongoing investigation. Officer safety was also important."

Police are withholding the names of the suspects arrested throughout
Wednesday, until they are completely booked into the Grayson County Jail,
Spindle said. The officers took them first to the Community Center
building, the inside of which was invisible to passers-by because of white
newsprint taped along doors and windows. There, they completed an in-house
book-in process, then transported them to the county jail.

Spindle said the sealed warrants pre-determined the bail amounts to be
posted, ranging from $15,000 to $100,000.

"These people are accused of selling drugs to Van Alstyne people of all
ages, including school-age children," Spindle said. "They also include some
counts that are enhanced because the transactions happened in drug-free
zones." Drug-free zones include schools, city-owned properties, parks, and
churches.

"Our main intent was to get the drugs and the people who were selling them
out of circulation," Spindle said, adding that they've not gone after any
seizures of cars, cash, and other items allowed by drug-seizure laws.

Spindle said the police department has spent a conservative minimum of 250
man-hours during Operation Powder Free.

"We've had the complete, 100 percent support of the City Council."

Also, he said the sting hasn't interfered with any officer's other duties.
"This is extra work, in addition to what they do daily. They all went that
extra mile to get done what needed to be done. It makes me proud of our
officers."

The Van Alstyne PD, Spindle said, has a zero-tolerance posture on drug
activities. "We're not going to tolerate it and the citizens of Van Alstyne
aren't going to, either."

Anyone with information on drug sales or possession can call the police
department with that information. Spindle said those leads will remain
confidential. The phone number is (903) 482-5251.