HARRISON DRUG RAID NETS 27

"One of the largest" drug raids in the history of Harrison County resulted
in dozens of felony drug arrests and the shutdown of one business Saturday,
according to Sheriff Mark J. Miller.

Miller said about 80 deputies, police officers and highway patrol officers
participated in the raid that began with a 7 a.m. meeting at the
Harrison-Belmont Career Center command post. Officers started making
arrests throughout the county at 8 a.m. Saturday and were continuing to
search for the indicted individuals more than 12 hours later. Miller said
27 people had been taken into custody by 8 p.m. Saturday with six lodged in
the Harrison County Jail and the remaining 21 incarcerated at the Jefferson
County Jail.

These individuals will be arraigned Monday morning in Harrison County Court
of Common Pleas in Cadiz before Judge Dominick E. Olivito, who is sitting
by assignment of the Ohio Supreme Court, according to Miller and court
documents.

There were a total of 39 warrants issued on a wide variety of felony drug
indictment charges, mostly for sale of illegal drugs during the past year,
and law enforcement officers are continuing to hunt for the 12 individuals
still at large to serve their warrants on them.

The indictments were handed down earlier this month on the basis of
information taken before a Common Pleas Court grand jury by Prosecuting
Attorney Matthew R. Puskarich and his staff.

The sheriff said all those indicted are charged with alleged sale of
illegal "hard drugs," including crack-cocaine, cocaine, opium, heroin and
marijuana. He said the alleged sale of the illegal drugs occurred in Cadiz,
Hopedale, Jewett, Scio and New Athens.

Miller said officers also served a seizure warrant and a forfeiture warrant
against the OK Corral on Main Street in Hopedale. "We shut it down today,"
Miller said Saturday night, adding that OK Corral owner-operator Suzanne
Tweedy also faces individual charges for alleged drug sales.

The sheriff said some of the indictments allege drugs were sold within
1,000 feet of a school, namely Jewett Elementary School or Harrison Central
High School in Cadiz.

According to Miller, his department has worked over a year on assembling
the cases that resulted in Saturday's arrests. Officers in charge of the
narcotics unit in the sheriff's department are Lt. Mark Touville and Deputy
John Thompson, Miller said.

Also taking a leadership role in the effort were agents for the
Southeastern Ohio Narcotics Task Force, including director Lt. Bernie Beltz
of Martins Ferry and coordinator Sam Hitchcock of New Philadelphia. Miller
said he and Puskarich have belonged to S.E.N.T. since 1998 and the task
force that is funded through the state of Ohio has been in operation since
the mid-1990s. The sheriff noted that Touville and Thompson of his
department's narcotics unit also are S.E.N.T. agents.

The sheriff said law enforcement officers helping with Saturday's drug
sweep included those from the Dover, New Philadelphia, Strasburg, New
Comerstown, Port Washington, Byesville, Scio, Hopedale and Jewett police
departments; the Carroll County and Jefferson County sheriff's departments;
and Ohio Highway Patrol out of Ravenna and Steubenville.

Miller said he and the prosecuting attorney are especially grateful to the
S.E.N.T. task force. "We realize these arrests couldn't be made without
S.E.N.T. We get a lot of money and help from them," he said.

The sheriff explained that the drug buys made by police informants
basically were financed with funds from S.E.N.T.

Asked if he thinks Saturday's drug sweep will end Harrison County's illegal
drug problems, the sheriff said he is realistic about the situation. "It's
going to continue. It will be quiet for a while, but then someone else will
come it.

"We've only put a dent in the problem and it will always be that way in the
war on drugs until lawmakers make tougher laws," Miller said.

"I have no trouble with getting help for someone who's hooked and has a
drug problem, but when they start selling it, they should have to do some
hard time.

"We're going after the sellers. All of those named in the current
indictments are sellers. A lot are users too. When we come across a user,
we will make an arrest, but our prime targets are the sellers," Miller said.