OPERATION UNTANGLES WEB OF DRUG DEALERS,FIREARM SALES

Cocaine, not methamphetamine, was the focus of an extensive drug raid on
Wednesday in Jasper County.

Residents were awakened to the sound of helicopters flying overhead and
large convoys of police cars at homes in Carthage. Other law enforcement
were serving search warrants at rural homes and some in Joplin and Webb City.

"We were the recipient of good fortune," said Carthage Police Chief Dennis
Veach of the raids.

This extensive investigation began in the fall of 1999, Veach explained,
when Kevin Mitchell, a Carthage police officer assigned to the Jasper
County Drug Task Force, became interested in a Hispanic person for drug
trafficking. In checking with Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS),
he learned investigators in Springfield were also asking about the
individual's activities.

Over the past two years, Mitchell has worked with members of the
Springfield task force, Combined Ozarks Metropolitan Enforcement Team
(COMET), which has state and federal officers as members. These agencies
have resources beyond the capacity of the local police department and task
force, Veach said.

Over the two years, Mitchell has been the local contact, working closely
with federal agents and the Missouri State Highway Patrol to cultivate the
evidence and build cases. A Grand Jury in January issued indictments
against 36 individuals and state charges were filed on Monday by the Jasper
County Prosecutors against 26 people. Capt. Tony Coleman, Jasper County
Sheriff, said not all of the arrests have been made. They include a
juvenile, under the age of 17, whose name was not released.

Arrested on state charges were Maria E. Baron, 18, Christy Drugg, 37,
Timothy Corben, 38, Julio Mojica, 19, Margarita Flores, 45, Pascual
Rodriguez, 43, Oscar Flores, 42, Terrell Prine, 17, Michah Strickland, 17,
Bradley Clark, 43, Eric Beckner, 21, Elmer Cook, 53, Tammy Hood, 31, Walter
Smith, 19, Misty Hensley, 24, Erica Allen, 26. No addresses were available
for the above. Also arrested were Ralph-Fael Hands, 21 and Vicki M.
Tarkington, 20, both of the state of Oklahoma.

It developed into a federal investigation with many more federal
indictments rather than state charges. Warrants are outstanding on an
additional seven individuals.

The sting, composed of every single Carthage police officer except one who
was on vacation, gathered momentum with the convergence of more than 180
law enforcement officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization
Service and Jasper County Drug Task Force.

Veach said the operation began at 4:30 a.m. when officers met at Precious
Moments. There they broke into 27 teams, ranging from three to 10 officers
per team, depending on the case. A Carthage officer was with every one of
the teams.

The significance of the sting was in the multiple kilograms of cocaine.
Additionally, these individuals had associations with California, Texas and
outside the United States.

Also, the arrests broke up the drug operation from the top to the bottom,
from those wholesaling the drugs to those selling it on the street corner.

"It's really unusual for an operation to go from the bottom to the top,"
Veach said.

That doesn't mean the arrests got rid of all the drug dealers in town.

"It's a supply-demand driven crime. As long as the demand is there, there
will be a supply," he said.

Veach said people always ask about the impact of large drug busts. He said
the biggest impact are the 50 people sitting in jail. But the impact is
never really known.

"We don't know how many (users) will quit, stopped, moved or never started
because of these arrests," Veach stated.

With Kevin Provins, the Carthage DARE officer, making drug arrests
yesterday, it will have an impact on his classes today, Veach said.

Overall, the magnitude of the operation was determined by the federal
agents who ran the operation. Veach said there were arrests made in three
other states, although he wasn't sure of which states.

"There were a lot of police but there was a lot of territory," Veach said.

The search warrants were served simultaneously. Those people not at home
were arrested throughout the day with others remaining outstanding.