CLASSES ON DRUG ARRESTS PAY OFF

Davidson Deputies Work Interstate 85

Sheriff's deputies in Davidson County are closely watching the interstates
these days, and they say that it's paying good money.

Members of a six-man unit are taking classes in ways to find and seize
drugs and cash on the interstate. Several deputies underwent training six
weeks ago, and since then the sheriff's office said that it has seized
about $400,000 and eight vehicles, including a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The biggest drug seizure by the drug-interdiction unit came Friday
afternoon, when deputies found five kilograms of cocaine hidden inside a
battery of a car that they stopped on Interstate 85. The cocaine has a
street value of about $1 million, deputies said.

"We're out here every day - seven days a week," Sheriff Gerald Hege said.
"We've barely been out of school six weeks."

Deputies from Davidson, Iredell, Alamance and Sampson counties have worked
in each other's jurisdictions in recent weeks to search for drugs and large
amounts of cash hidden in vehicles. Iredell deputies were with Davidson
deputies Friday when they found the cocaine.

Many of the drivers being stopped on I-85 are pulled over for such actions
as changing lanes without using a turn signal, weaving from side to side,
or having a cracked windshield.

Deputies such as Mark Vanzant of Davidson's drug-interdiction unit are
trained to identify indicators of drug trafficking. If there are enough
suspicious indicators at a traffic stop, deputies often run a dog around
the vehicle to find drugs or weapons.

Deputies said they don't like to give specifics about the things they look
for, fearing that would provide helpful information to drug traffickers.
"We just have to have indicators," Vanzant said. "If we see something
suspicious and we need the dog to confirm it, then we use the dog."

Deputies said that they don't assume anyone is a drug trafficker. "We don't
know who's dealing drugs or not," Vanzant said.

Ironically, a sheriff's deputy pulled over a U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration agent on I-85 on Friday morning. The agent changed lanes
without using his turn signal.

Many drivers who have large amounts of drugs or cash in their vehicles
consent to a search. That was the case for two men arrested Friday, who
were in a Dodge Stratus that had the 5 kilograms of cocaine hidden inside a
second battery. There were marijuana seeds inside the battery, too, and the
drugs were covered in grease - a technique traffickers sometimes use in
hopes that a dog will not smell the drugs, investigators said.

Deputies arrested Vermil Vargas, 31, and Misael Chavez Rodriguez, 26,
according to the sheriff's office. The men had driver's licenses with
Greensboro and Asheboro addresses, but were coming from Atlanta.

Their charges include three counts each of trafficking in cocaine. They
were being held at Davidson County Jail with bond set at $1 million each.

Sometimes there are no drugs in a vehicle, but thousands in cash. In
several cases, drivers have said that they had no idea the money was in the
car, and the sheriff's office seizes it, deputies said.

Last month deputies seized $19,420 from hidden compartments in a Toyota
Corolla, and the same day took $11,420 in cash from a 1995 Ford Thunderbird.

The sheriff's office notifies the Drug Enforcement Administration about the
seizures, and 20 percent of the money goes to the federal government. Two
DEA agents went to the I-85 drug seizure Friday and questioned one of the
suspects.

Hege said that the drug-forfeiture money his department collects helps pay
for things it otherwise couldn't afford, such as equipment to make training
videos that the office bought a few weeks ago.

The sheriff's office can use forfeiture money to buy anything related to
fighting drugs, Hege said, such as radar, cameras, surveillance equipment
or computers. When deputies from one county are working in another, they
split the forfeiture money.

Deputies say that there's a bonus to drug interdiction. The increased
presence of sheriff's cars on I-85 has helped calm traffic and prevent
accidents, deputies said.

"By us being out there, (people) tend to respect more laws," said Deputy
Alex Whitford, a member of the drug-interdiction team who is a Spanish
translator.