-from denverpost.com-

By Howard Pankratz

An alleged leader of the Tre Tre Crips gang was convicted of first degree murder today.

A Denver jury spent just two hours considering the charges against Lamar Blackwell.

He was found guilty of first-degree murder and vehicular eluding in the death of Jerome Louis Martin on April 5, 2006.

The victim’s mother, Charlene, wept as the jury’s decision was announced.

Afterwards, she said she was happy for the quick verdict.

“I want to keep him off the streets,” she said.

“I have a sense of relief. Based on the information I was given, I knew it was Blackwell who killed my son.”

Charlene Martin said her son was a travel and tourism major at Johnson & Wales University, with an outstanding sense of humor.

“He was funny. He’d look at someone and they’d just start laughing.”

Martin’s death was a “senseless act of murder because of the color of his shirt,” a prosecutor said today during closing arguments.

“That’s what he (Martin) lost his life over,” said prosecutor Joe Morales.

Morales and fellow prosecutor Tim Twining claim that Blackwell, who they say is a leader of the Tre Tre Crip street gang, killed Martin in downtown Denver because he was wearing a red or maroon shirt, the colors sometimes worn by members of the rival Bloods gang.

They claim that both men attended a hip-hop party at the Club Beyond, in the Pavilions, where Blackwell became upset with Martin. They say Blackwell was twice ejected from the club, and later followed Martin down a Denver street and into a parking lot.

There, Morales told a Denver District Court jury today, Blackwell, known as “Lil Corn”, pumped four bullets into Martin’s back.

” ‘Lil Corn’ said I’m going to ‘merc’ that fool…and shot him in the back like a coward,” Morales said.

But Wilbur Smith, Blackwell’s defense attorney, told the jury that the prosecution’s case was built around a snitch who was most likely the shooter along with another man that police failed to catch.

Smith said that Cleus “Hus” Williams, lied to police and then lied to the jury when he said that he was with Blackwell when he killed Martin.

“There were two killers, a killer got away and Mr. Blackwell fired no gun at Jerome Martin,” Smith told the jury. “The people (prosecutors) jumped to a conclusion and were wedded to that conclusion.

“They swallowed Cleus Williams’ story hook, line and sinker,” he added.

But Twining said that ballistics tests showed that the bullets which killed Martin came from Blackwell’s gun. And he said that a lengthy chase - which included a high-speed chase through Denver streets and a foot chase afterwards - there was never a mysterious third party ever seen. There is no other gunman out there, Twining said.

“There was no one-armed Crip from a grassy knoll,” Twining said. “There was no third person.”

Sentencing is set for March 19th. Blackwell faces a mandatory life in prison sentence on the first degree murder charge.

-from walb.com-

By Sarah Baldwin

Cairo– Six arrested, and five charged in connection with the meth lab bust last week. The charges range from conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamines to child endangerment. The children are in the custody of DFACS, and are currently being placed.

An anonymous tip to DFACS brought law enforcement out to this home on Pope Store Road rural Grady county.

Captain Tim Gainous from the Grady county sheriff’s office says they found evidence there may be a drug activity going on, and got a search warrant. “An active methamphetamine lab was found in a trailer behind the double wide,” said Gainous.

John Thompson, Eric Taylor, Jamie Lewis, and Lisa Hughes, and Nichole Easter were all charged with conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamines. “Every person that was charged was also charged with 4 counts of child endangerment,” Gainous added.

Four children, ages ranging from an infant to a 6 year old child, were living in the home, right next to where the meth was being produced. “During the interviews it came to light that for many years, for seven years prior, methamphetamines had been produced in the double wide mobile home, that the children were living in,” said Gainous.

He says although the lab was in a separate trailer, potentially to try to protect the kids, it’s extremely dangerous to have kids in a place where meth was ever produced. “Without proper decontamination of a structure after cooking methamphetamine in it, all types of gases and traces left in the home and the carpet, on the walls, that could actually kill a child,” said Gainous.

The kids were taken to Grady General Hospital to be checked out as part of protocol from the Georgia Alliance for Drug Endangered Children.

Child endangerment is a felony charge. A separate count is filed for each child endangered.

-from wavy.com-

We’re learning more tonight about the largest drug bust ever at Norfolk International Terminal.

Federal agents spoke to WAVY News 10 about the drug ring, which for years moved cocaine from the sea to our streets.

Seven men, several from Hampton Roads, and at least three with access to the port, are in custody.

Some of the men will be in court tomorrow for a bond hearing.

And, Federal agents say more arrests are on the way.

“As far as the port of Hampton Roads, this is probably the largest drug smuggling investigation I’m aware of that’s occurred in this area,” said Mike Netherland. He’s Assistant Special Agent in Charge of Immigration and Custom Enforcement.

Pictures we obtained from the Department of Homeland Security show just a portion of the three hundred pounds of cocaine seized from a drug ring operating off and on for ten years.

Netherland says agents started investigating the importation of drugs hidden in cargo containers in May, 2005.

“Our focus is security first and foremost, and the discovery of the drugs and drug smuggling organizations is essentially a consequence of our actions”

WAVY News 10 has learned from court records that the ring leader, Martin Delgado, was recruiting longshoreman in 1999 to help import the drugs. Delgado was arrested in the same year and deported back to Panama. He re-entered the U.S. in 2001 and teamed with Omar Petter.

Netherland says cargo containers from overseas ports were easy targets.

In an indicment unsealed yesterday and obtained by WAVY News 10, the US Attorney’s Office charged the seven men in the drug conspiracy.

Among the group are Ronald Evans of North Carolina, a truck driver with access to the port, and David Jones, a longshoreman from Chesapeake.

-from 770chqr.com-

CALGARY/AM770CHQR - A five-month investigation into a drug trafficking operation in Calgary has ended with five people facing charges, and seizure of half-a-million dollars worth of cocaine.
Police executed two warrants, including one at a home in Dover, in the city’s southeast.
Inside, they found 5 kilograms of coke, which would have sold on the street for $500,000, as well as $10,000 in cash and vehicles.
The accused are all from Calgary and between 22 and 30 years old.

-from wishtv.com-

By Gene Rodriguez (News 8 @ 5:00)

INDIANAPOLIS - A south side spa employee faces a preliminary charge of prostitution after an undercover investigation. Nina’s Spa on South Madison Avenue is still in business, but police say they are watching it closely.

When 24-Hour News 8 asked for the manager or anyone to discuss what Indianapolis Metropolitan Police say happened Monday night they said “no.” Police and employees of neighboring businesses, however, did talk.

“Extra services were being offered you could say, that are beyond the bounds of law,” said Sgt. Matt Mount of IMPD.

Forty-eight-year-old Dai Nesses, is a spa employee. He faces a preliminary prostitution charge.

One neighbor wasn’t surprised by the bust.

“No, we thought it would happen sooner.”

Neighbors wanted to remain anonymous, but were willing to share what they said they see on a daily basis.

“It ties up traffic and you wonder who’s coming in and who is isn’t.”

There is no sign on the outside of the building that says it is Nina’s Spa. Neighboring businesses say they see a steady stream of customers and that some even park in the back and walk around to the front of the building.

Inside Nina’s Spa certificates boast spa credentials and the business card shows a woman getting a massage. But neighbors said the customers they see are not women.

“Just men. The first day they opened it was like, what, 15 men.”

“All men. I have never seen a woman out of there other than the women that work over there.”

“That is one of the things that are looked at when we proceed forward with the investigation,” Mount said.

-from thecitizen.com-

By John Munford

Sheriff’s drug agents raided an east Fayette home recently, arresting two people for possession of the designer drug ecstasy with intent to distribute and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, police said.

The deputies were searching the home on Morgan Road when they found the contraband, according to Capt. Mike Pruitt of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office Drug Task Force.

Arrested and charged with possession of cocaine and ecstasy with intent to distribute were Montez Tobias Milam, 25 and Amanda Renee Roberts, 17, both of whom lived at the house. Also arrested were Michael Tyrone Mathis, 20, of Inman Road, for possession of cocaine and possession of marijuana (less than one ounce) and Patricia Adams, 39, of Morgan Road, for possession of cocaine.

Although the amount of ecstasy pills and cocaine in the home was enough to file a distribution charge, it was not large enough to file a trafficking charge, Pruitt said.

Ecstasy, the slang term for the drug MDMA, is considered a “party drug” and acts as a stimulant and psychedelic, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. It can produce an energizing effect, “as well as distortions in time and perception,” the DEA states on its Web site.

-from siskiyoudaily.com-

By Brad Smith

DORRIS — A routine traffic stop in Dorris Friday afternoon yielded a felony arrest for drugs and other violations.

According to Special Agent Dave Dunwoody, Siskiyou County-wide Interagency Narcotics Task Force, on Jan. 26, California Highway Patrol officer Seth Jennings had pulled over Raoul Frutos for a routine traffic stop.

“During a search of the vehicle, 16.62 grams of crystal methamphetamine was discovered along with a firearm,” Dunwoody said.

SCINTF was notified and a search warrant for Frutos’ residence issued, he said.

Two more firearms were discovered, along with scales, packaging and more than $4,000 in cash.

Frutos was charged with possession of methamphetamine for sale, transportation, being a felon in possession of firearms and possession of firearms in the commission of a felony.

He is currently lodged at the Siskiyou County Jail.

Dunwoody said that an investigation is ongoing.

-from nogalesinternational.com-

Nogales International

Narcotics smugglers found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Mariposa Port of Entry don’t let down their guard until every truck has been processed.

The driver of the last truck in line, a 44-year-old man from Culiacan, Sinaloa, was arrested after officers searched the truck and found almost 1,300 pounds of marijuana hidden inside the trailer.

At 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan.16, officers used the truck X-ray system to scan the truck and its contents. They noticed unusual items on top of pallets of chili peppers and cucumbers. After removing several pallets, they found 46 bales of marijuana weighing 1,278 pounds. The marijuana, tractor and trailer were seized. The estimated bulk value of the marijuana is $1.2 million.

Since the beginning of 2007, officers at Arizona ports of entry have seized almost 6,000 pounds of marijuana, with an estimated bulk value of $6.1 million.