PROJECT SCOURGE NETS NINE ARRESTS FOR CRACK

Hamilton police plan to get victim-impact statements from King Street East
merchants for use in court when nine people arrested in a six-week
undercover narcotics operation go to trial. Three women and six men were
arrested in the apartments above the Sandbar tavern at 193 King St. E. last
week. They were charged with possession of a controlled substance after
police seized about $3,200 worth of crack.

Detective Sergeant Rick Wills, head of the vice and drug unit, said
merchants in the area are sick of crack use downtown and the costs
associated with its negative impact on their neighbourhood and their
livelihoods.

"People are getting tired of having trouble with the kind of people that
come with (crack)," he said.

The arrests marked the end of Project Scourge run by the vice and drugs
branch and the Break, Enter, Auto and Robbery (BEAR) unit which targeted
crack cocaine in Hamilton.

The operation targeted numerous bars, residences and known drug dealers in
various areas of Hamilton.

An undercover police officer made 24 purchases of crack cocaine totalling
20.28 grams, Wills said. "A final night seizure netted another 7.2 grams of
crack and over $700 in cash."

Police also recovered a quantity of stolen property, including jewellery.

The seedy downtown building housing the Sandbar became infamous last Aug.
20 when police discovered the body of Jacqueline (Jackie) McLean, a
35-year-old Hamilton grandmother and mother of five who'd been beaten to
death in a dingy, unoccupied apartment.

Those arrested in the apartments above the defunct tavern include the
former manager of Big Lisa's, a Hamilton bar closed last year because drugs
were dealt openly on the premises.

Big Lisa's licence to sell liquor was revoked permanently in September last
year after then-manager Cory Lebuff was unable to prove he was the agent
for owner Lisa Ann Thomson of North Bay. Lebuff was trying to appeal a
licence suspension on Thomson's behalf at an Alcohol and Gaming Commission
of Ontario hearing.

The bar's licence had been suspended last Aug. 31 by the commission under a
rare emergency injunction because the bar showed "a clear pattern of
illegal activity."

Lebuff, 41, who also managed the Sandbar at one time, has been charged with
possession of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled
substance for the purpose of trafficking and proceeds of crime.