CITY'S VICE SQUAD OFF TO HOT START IN NEW YEAR

The Maury County Drug Task Force may be gone, but the Columbia Narcotics
and Vice Division has hit the ground running with 25 cases already booked
since Jan. 1, said Lt. Lonnie Lyles, who heads the unit.

Lyles, a 25-year veteran with the Columbia Police Department, said it is
all part of sending a serious message to those who deal in drugs.

"We will attack them every way we can. We are going to take their drug
money, their vehicles and all their possessions. Then we are going to
auction those items off and use that money to turn around and continue
fighting them," Lyles said.

The Maury County Drug Task Force banded a team of officers from various
police agencies and was first organized in 1994. Its disbandment on Jan. 1
has meant the Columbia Narcotics and Vice and Crime Suppression Unit now
operates as a separate entity and in a different location from the
Narcotics Unit at the Maury County Sheriff's Department. The same also
applies to the Mt. Pleasant Police Department, which was part of the
original task force.

"It did kind of sadden us to break up ... we all worked well together and
we felt that a lot was being accomplished, but it won't stop us from
continuing to work together and help each other out. We have a mutual aid
agreement," Lyles said.

Nor do these separate units mean the "war on drugs" will stop abruptly at
the Maury County line. "It doesn't work that way. No matter where they are
going, we will fight them. Our mutual aid agreement means just that -
mutual aid to other units," Lyles said.

Such cross-county cooperation is important, he said, because "most of the
drug dealers we have now in Maury County are from out-of-state. They are
not from here," he said, identifying Michigan as the predominant state of
origin given by those arrested in Maury County.

"We are not dealing with the main king pins of the drug world or the Mafia
here. Most of those arrested in Maury County are mid-level drug dealers.
The largest catch I remember was a couple of kilos several years ago,"
Lyles said.

Informants - citizen, criminal and paid - are another important key to
making arrests and successfully prosecuting a case, he said. "We protect
our informants and we have got plenty of them," he said. "You just never
know who they are. We find it interesting that those arrested usually pick
the wrong person as the informant."

Another member of the unit, Narcotics Investigator and K-9 Officer Stuart
Chaffin said "repeaters" are very common with drug arrests. One example he
gave was Michael Miller, 25, of 200 Polk St., who was arrested on charges
of possession of cocaine for resale. Included in the arrests were John
Kameron Delk, 20, of 210 Cheyenne Trail, and Linton Poling, 22.

Chaffin said Miller's arrest sheet on various drug charges stretched back
to 1993 and that his parole was scheduled to expire just two days after his
arrest. "He (Miller) would have flattened his time out. He was on a boot
camp probation. Now he will go to 2005," Chaffin said.

Chaffin described Lyons as sending out a strong directive to the unit,
which includes four vice officers and six crime suppression officers plus
one administrative staff member: "He says 'if you do dope then you are
going to do jail time.' We would rather lose in trial than let it go to
probation and we are very serious about that."

Since Jan. 1, the the division's new headquarters, in a nondescript
location just off James Campbell Boulevard, has a lot full of confiscated
items ranging from boats to tractors (seized in a Culleoka raid) to
expensive cars and stereo equipment.

It is getting crowded, admits Lyles who said he is already putting together
details for a public auction in February. "Then we will start all over," he
said, "until those who deal in drugs are gone."

Included in arrests and seizures reported by the Columbia Narcotics and
Vice Division and the Crime Suppression Unit since Jan. 1 are:

u Holey Ann Bills, 42, of 1106 East End St., arrested on Jan. 3 and charged
with possession of cocaine.

u Justin Michael Goodman, 18, of Apt. 6, 803 Taylor St., arrested Jan. 6
and charged with possession of marijuana for resale. Seized were $106 and a
1990 Cadillac.

u Sarah Beth Edmiston, 18, 2642 Scribner Mill, Culleoka, and Andrew James,
18, of 119 Thomas Ave., Columbia, both arrested on Jan. 2 and charged with
possession of marijuana for resale. Almost a half pound of marijuana was
seized.

u Johnathon Warnsley, 31, of 111 Second Ave., arrested on Jan. 3 and
charged with possession of marijuana for resale. More than $1,500 was seized.

u Donovan Duke, 30, of 2609 Maplewood Dr., arrested on Jan. 7 and charged
with possession of cocaine for resale. More than $1,300 was seized.