-from mercurynews.com-

By Robert Salonga

ANTIOCH — Two people were arrested early this morning after they were seen conducting a methamphetamine deal in a city parking lot, police said.

Michael Howe, 51, of Antioch, and 21-year-old Antioch resident Jessica Martin were arrested on suspicion of offenses related to selling and transporting methamphetamine.

The suspects were being watched by police about 12:30 a.m. when they met in a parking lot in the 1100 block of Buchanan Road. Officers approached, got permission from Howe to search his vehicle, and found 2 ounces of methamphetamine.

Martin was booked into West County Jail in Richmond, where she is being held on $25,000 bail. Howe was taken to County Jail in Martinez, but his bail information was not available.

-from palmbeachpost.com-

By Bill DiPaolo

PALM BEACH GARDENS- — A dozen people have been arrested and about 100,000 oxycodone pills confiscated after police uncovered a scheme that obtained drugs illegally from pharmacies between Jupiter and Lake Worth.

The drug investigation began July 15 while Gardens police were checking into a residential burglary. During the investigation, police determined North Palm Beach resident Shane McKenney, 29, was dealing in oxycodone. Police arrested McKenney and found about 850 oxycodone pills, 100 xanax pills, two semiautomatic handguns, $13,000 in cash and 500 fake prescription forms - known as scripts - in his home

Further investigation led to the arrest of 11 more suspects, mostly in their 20s. They and McKenney were charged with trafficking and conspiracy to traffic in oxycodone. Four more suspects are being sought, said Gardens Police Chief Stephen Stepp.

McKenney was supplying the other suspects with fake scripts he obtained on the Internet. The suspects would fill the scripts at small pharmacies throughout the county. They would then return the drugs to McKinney, who would pay them pack with a share.

The drug ring obtained more than 100,000 oxycodone pills - they sell for about $25 each on the street - and 3,000 pills of xanax, which is used to treat anxiety. They passed more than 500 illegal prescriptions, Stepp said.

“The suspects used smaller pharmacies, not the chains. Small pharmacies cannot track their activities,” said Stepp.

Despite the value of the confiscated drugs, the arrests made only a “very small dent” in the illegal South Florida market for oxycodone, said A.D. Wright, assistant special agent for the Miami Field Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

“Getting oxycodone is so easy. (McKinney) had no problem getting his scripts on line,” Wright said. “The ease of getting the drug can quickly lead to addiction.”

Oxycodone is a pill prescribed for pain relief associated with fractures, arthritis, and cancer pain. Oxycodone abusers often chew the tablets or crush the tablets and snort the powder. Oxycodone is water soluble, and crushed tablets can be dissolved in water and the solution injected.

“Those addicted will rob, assault and even murder for the drug. The oxycodone problem touches everyone,” said Stepp.

More than twice as many people in Palm Beach County died last year from drug overdoses than homicide. The average fatal overdose victim in Palm Beach County last year was 41 years old, according to records from the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office.

“It’s not a teenager problem. Mostly, it’s people in their 20’s” said Wright.

About 240 people died of drug overdoses in the county last year. PBSO, which keeps its own statistics, has the number at 303 and warns it could exceed 400 this year.

In Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee counties, there were a combined 100 fatal drug overdoses.

In Palm Beach County, only 50 of the 241 deaths last year were caused solely by illegal drugs. In the same period, there were 106 homicides and 206 traffic fatalities.

The Gardens drug bust has nothing to do with last month’s arrest of Dr. Sergio Rodriguez, the West Palm Beach pediatrician who was charged with illegal prescriptions and the overdose deaths of two of his patients. The arrest followed an eight-month undercover investigation by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

-from courant.com-

By Hilda Munoz

MANCHESTER - Narcotics officers seized half a pound of marijuana and arrested a suspected drug dealer during a drug bust Wednesday on Huntington Street.

Collie Golding is being charged with possession of more than four ounces of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of marijuana within 1500 feet of a school and possession of marijuana with intent to sell within 1500 feet of a school.

He is being held on $250,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 18.

A tip about a marijuana dealer in Manchester led police to Golding, a 48-year-old Hartford resident. Members of the East Central Narcotics Task Force developed enough evidence against Golding to get a search warrant for his car, police said.

Officers detained Golding in his car on Huntington Street and found marijuana that was packaged for sale, police said.

-from kansascity.com-

KANSAS CITY, KAN. | After one of the biggest cocaine seizures in Kansas history, a federal jury has found Nestor Ramirez, 28, of New Brighton, Minn., guilty of drug charges.

The Franklin County sheriff’s office seized 550 pounds of cocaine in October 2007 after a deputy stopped a truck carrying Ramirez and another man on Interstate 35. Authorities had received information about a Georgia traffic stop that resulted in the seizure of more than $3 million, hidden in an electronically operated compartment in a truck. Several such vehicles were believed to be operating for the purpose of carrying cash and drugs.

Ramirez was convicted Wednesday of one count each of conspiracy and possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute it. Last week, a judge found co-defendant Manuel Barraza-Martinez guilty of the same charges.

-from abclocal.go.com-

Fresno, CA, USA (KFSN) — Local and federal law enforcement officials say they’ve taken more than $1.4 billion dollars worth of marijuana off the streets. This South Valley bust is so big, the White House Drug Czar came to Visalia to talk about it. The bust is part of Operation “L.O.C.C.U.S.T.”

Last year, the Tulare County Sheriff’s office had a record seizure of more than 330,000 illegal marijuana plants. Operation L.O.C.C.U.S.T. eradicated 10,000 more plants that that in the last week.

Aerial video taken early Tuesday morning shows the massive amounts of gardens and thousands of marijuana plants growing illegally in our local national parks. U.S Drug Czar John Walters says these operations are mostly the work of mexican drug cartels who make money here and spread fear in their home country John Walters says, “They’re killers that live in Mexico who want to challenge the government, who want to use terror in the form of beheading.”

Walters himself went out to Sequoia National Forest to help pull out some of the more than 340,000 plants seized in the last week. Operation L.O.C.C.U.S.T. stands for “Location Organized Cannabis Cultivators Using Saturation Tactics.” The operation is made up of 14 different local, state and federal agencies and more than 220 officers who are still working this day on the ongoing project. Along with the literally tons of trash left behind from the cartels’ camps, were 27 miles of hose that took water from national springs to irrigate the marijuana gardens.

U.S. Attorney McGregor Scot says, “I’m talking about stream diverting, the killing of animals, mass pesticides and chemicals that are occurring in our forests, the terracing of national parks.”

Officials also brought along more than 6,000 marijuana plants seized in the last week. They say operation of the gardens is highly organized, and have arrested 36 people on felony charges for cultivating marijuana.

Tulare County Sheriff Bill Wittman says, “We will continue to go on from this day forward. We will continue to take out plants. We think we’ve got about 83 gardens that were located, we think we have about 20 to 23 more gardens left.”

There is no “end date” to operation L.O.C.C.U.S.T. and officials say they will continue to try and get rid of up to 60,000 more plants they say are up there. Officials say Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks have the biggest illegal marijuana garden problem than any other national park.

-from abc6.com-

By John Eagan

Two men looking to launch their careers as big time drug dealers in Rhode Island saw their efforts come to a quick and explosive end in Coventry over the weekend. And once the jig was up, the suspects tried just about everything to get away. Let’s just say it didn’t work out.

The huge sting was the result of 2 weeks of planning by the Rhode Island State Police. Detectives say suspects Manuel Fernandez and Marco Vasquez wanted to set up shop in Rhode Island, and were looking to buy 15 kilos of cocaine.

The deal was set. The meeting place was the parking lot of the Super 8 Motel in West Greenwich. There was one problem though, the dealers were doing business with undercover cops.

Police say it was not your typical everyday drug bust. The dealers came ready, with more than $300,000 in cash.

Once detectives were ready to arrest the 2 suspects, they moved in toward their vehicle and told them to stop. According the police, Fernandez then stepped on the gas of his SUV. Officials say he drove right at one of the officers. Two of the detectives then discharged 1 shot each at the suspects’ vehicle.

Officials say the gunfire did not stop the dealers. They kept driving directly at the officers. So detectives fired 4 more shots. That seemed to do the job.

-from jcfloridan.com-

By Deborah Buckhalter

A special delivery landed two local men in jail last Friday and gave Jackson County authorities one of their most significant drug busts in recent history.
More than $86,000 in cash, 44 pounds of marijuana and an armload of firearms were seized, along with small amounts of cocaine and high-grade methamphetamine known as “ice.”
According to authorities, 27-year-old Travis Adam Walker of Grand Ridge is charged with trafficking in marijuana in the case.
Carlos Jared Edenfield, 26, of Grand Ridge is charged with trafficking in marijuana, possession of cocaine and high-grade “ice” methamphetamine, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, authorities said.
Authorities said the Jackson County Drug Task Force had the Walker home at 6727 Yearling St. under surveillance as part of an ongoing investigation, and sent an undercover officer to his house acting as a commercial courier whose job it was to deliver a package.
Investigators lay in wait until Edenfield arrived to pick up the items, then pursued him as he left the house in a vehicle.
An officer with the Florida Highway Patrol’s Contraband Interdiction Team tried to pull him over on Florida Street in front of Grand Ridge Elementary School, but he kept driving and turned east on Old Spanish Trail, authorities said. At Old Spanish Trail’s intersection with McKeown Mill Road, Edenfield lost control of the vehicle and it overturned, trapping him inside. He was extracted from the vehicle and taken to Jackson Hospital, where he was treated and then released into law enforcement’s custody.
Inside the vehicle, authorities found the marijuana, 12 grams of “ice,” six grams of cocaine, and a .40-caliber automatic handgun.
In a subsequent search of Edenfield’s home in Grand Ridge, listed in jail documents as 6879 First St., investigators also found and seized more than $86,000 in cash from a dresser drawer, two more handguns and three long guns.
Edenfield’s bail was set at $45,000 and after posting ten percent of the total he was released Monday to await further action in the case.
Walker’s bail was set at $10,000, and he was released last Saturday after posting ten percent of the total.
Sheriff John P. McDaniel said it is believed the marijuana came from sources in Mexico, and that an investigation of the case continues.
Agencies involved include the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Chipley Police Department, the Florida Highway Patrol and the Jackson County Drug Task Force.