DRUG RAID NABS WRONG WOMAN

Officers Try To Arrest 77-Year-Old; Intended Target Was Next
Door

Law-enforcement officers raided the wrong house and forced a
77-year-old La Plata County woman on oxygen to the ground last week in
search of methamphetamine.

The raid occurred about 11 a.m. June 8, as Virginia Herrick was
settling in to watch "The Price is Right." She heard a rustling
outside her mobile home in Durango West I and looked out to see
several men with gas masks and bulletproof vests, she said.

Herrick went to the back door to have a look.

"I thought there was a gas leak or something," she said.

But before reaching the door, La Plata County Sheriff's deputies
shouted "search warrant, search warrant" and barged in with guns
drawn, she said. They ordered Herrick to the ground and began
searching the home.

"They didn't give me a chance to ask for a search warrant or see a
search warrant or anything," she said in a phone interview Thursday.
"I'm not about to argue with those big old guys, especially when
they've got guns and those big old sledgehammers."

La Plata County Sheriff Duke Schirard and Southwest Drug Task Force
Director Lt. Rick Brown confirmed Herrick's story.

Some deputies stayed with Herrick as others searched the house. They
entered every bedroom and overturned a mattress in her son's room.

Deputies asked Herrick if she knew a certain man, and she said no.
Then they asked what address they were at, and she told them 74 Hidden
Lane.

Deputies intended to raid 82 Hidden Lane - the house next door.

While Herrick was on the ground, deputies began placing handcuffs on
her. They cuffed one wrist and were preparing to cuff the other.

"I had gotten really angry, and I was shaking from the whole
incident," she said.

Once deputies realized their mistake, they tried to help Herrick stand
up and help her clean up the mess they created.

"I'm kind of a little stiff getting up," she said.

But Herrick wanted the deputies out.

"Not too much later, the sheriff came up and apologized, and
apologized and apologized," she said.

Schirard and Brown provided context for how the mistake occurred, and
said that they ultimately busted the correct house and captured
$51,520 worth of meth.

For one month, the Southwest Drug Task Force had been investigating
drug activity at 82 Hidden Lane, and investigators made several
undercover meth purchases from a man who lived at the house. Brown
declined to release the man's name, citing an ongoing
investigation.

On June 8, the task force decided to end the undercover operation and
arrest the man. Rather than arrest him inside his home, investigators
set up a drug deal to lure him outside.

As the suspect drove toward the meeting location at the entrance of
Durango West I, a deputy attempted to pull him over as if it were a
routine traffic stop.

But the suspect hit the gas and led deputies on a 57-second chase
through the Durango West neighborhood. The chase covered four-tenths
of a mile with speeds reaching 45 mph. While driving, the suspect
threw bags of meth out of the car and erased phone numbers from his
cell phone, Brown said.

The suspect eventually crashed into a power box and was arrested
without incident.

While task-force members were detaining him, other
law-enforcement-officials were ordered to execute a search warrant at
82 Hidden Lane.

After raiding the wrong house, deputies regrouped and decided to enter
the correct house. That raid was successful: Two people were arrested
and 7.2 ounces of meth was seized, Brown said.

In all, the task force seized a total of 2.3 pounds of meth during the
investigation, he said. That includes the meth investigators bought
while undercover and the meth the suspect threw from his car during
the chase, Brown said. The street value for 1 ounce of meth is $1,400.

"They were slinging a lot of dope in this community," Brown said. "We
took a lot of meth off the streets."

Raiding the wrong house was a mistake, but it's one the task force has
been learning from, Brown said. The mistake could have compromised the
investigation and deputy safety. Had the true suspects learned of the
raid, they could have disposed of the narcotics and armed themselves
in anticipation of a raid.

Agencies involved in the raid included the task force and the La Plata
County Sheriff's Office SWAT team.

Herrick's home and the one next door had similar qualities, Brown
said, and it didn't help that deputies were entering through the back.

In the future, Brown said agents familiar with a particular raid will
physically point deputies to the home, and pictures of the home will
be distributed to those involved.

Herrick's son, David Herrick, said investigators surveilled the
neighbor's house before the raid, and it was extremely unprofessional
to enter the wrong house.

"There is a big difference between 74 and 82," he said, referring to
the house numbers.

What's more, Herrick doesn't understand why his 77-year-old mother was
handcuffed.

"Why they thought it was necessary to handcuff her and put her on the
floor I don't know," he said. "And then they had to ask her what the
address was."

Brown said it is common practice to make all occupants lie on the
ground handcuffed in case gunfire erupts.

"It's just safe for everybody if they're controlled on the ground," he
said.

David Herrick said he has contacted lawyers about a possible
lawsuit.

"It's pretty upsetting that they do that to a 77-year-old," he said.
"A little common sense, I think, would have helped out on the problem
a lot."

Virginia Herrick said she is glad her meth-dealing neighbors are gone,
but also said: "I'm still angry at the whole situation. For them to
raid the wrong trailer was not very smart."