Two separate investigations have uncovered a drug-trafficking ring stretching from Richmond to Detroit and has resulted in the second-largest drug bust in Madison County history.
“This is the result of nothing more than good basic police work,” Sheriff Nelson O’Donnell said Friday. “We managed to do this through the development of leads, follow-up interviews and persistence.”
The Madison County Sheriff’s Office was just one of the agencies operating as the Central Kentucky Area Drug Task Force (CKADTF), which managed to shut down a major trafficking route of narcotics into Richmond in the past two months.
“In these two cases combined, we seized nearly $200,000 and 1,560 oxycontins,” CKADTF Director Rick Johnson said. “This is a major bust.”
The first of two cases, which Johnson said were “more than likely” related, occurred Aug. 14 when two Richmond residents, described by police as “wholesale distributors,” were arrested with a large quantity of illegal prescription pills and cash.
Tammy Slone was arrested by Madison County Sheriff Deputy Bruce King and charged with drug offenses after a search of a residence rented by Slone revealed approximately $133,770 in cash, a Glock handgun and 81 Methadone pills. Slone was charged with possession of a controlled substance.
During the search of Slone’s residence, Task Force Detectives also located items linking the case to another apartment located on Woodstrail in Richmond, which was later determined to be rented by James Denny. On Aug. 15, CKADTF officers, sheriff’s deputies and Richmond police patrolman later executed a search warrant at Denny’s residence.
During the search, approximately 1,238 oxycontin pills were located and seized, along with $15,680 in cash. Denny was also in personal possession of approximately $10,000 in cash and 12 oxycontin pills, Johnson said.
Also found in Denny’s apartment were two men from Detroit who police believe served as “middlemen” in an alleged drug-running racket.
“What you basically have is someone buying oxycontin for $25 a pill in Detroit, selling it to the middlemen for $40 to $50 and then street dealers making from $80 to $100 a pill,” O’Donnell said.
The Michigan men, later identified as David Crosby and Curtis Toston, were charged with trafficking in a controlled substance and lodged in the Madison County Detention Center.
The street value of the oxycontin found in the August bust is estimated at $178,000, said Berea Police Chief Dwayne Brumley.
Denny has been released on a $20,000 partially secured bond and Slone was released on $5,000 cash bond.
Crosby and Toston were transferred Sept. 15 from Richmond by U.S. marshals.
On Tuesday, three other Michigan men were arrested for trafficking in a bust Johnson referred to as a “related.”
Michael Talton, Justin Simmons and DeAngelo McConico, all from Detroit, were arrested and charged after being pulled over while traveling northbound on Interstate 75.
The trio, who were traveling in a 2006 Land Rover, were pulled over by Madison County Sheriff’s Deputy Bruce King, who was working in conjunction with Klisar, the Madison County Sheriff’s Department’s K-9.
“Klisar alerted to the vehicle indicating he presence of illegal drugs,” Thompson said. “After the positive K-9 alert on the vehicle and a subsequent search, CKADTF Detective Jason Parker located approximately 224 oxycontin pills.”
The medication allegedly was concealed in the passenger compartment of the vehicle, Brumley said.
The driver of the vehicle, Talton, did not have a driver’s license and already was under arrest when officers searched the remaining two passengers and found approximately $3,387 on Simmons and $504 on McConico, Johnson said.
All three men were charged with trafficking in a controlled substance and lodged in the Madison County Detention Center in lieu of $10,000 cash bond each.
Johnson said possible shipments from Michigan into Richmond had been occurring for the past three to four months.
“We have the suspicion that there are doctor shoppers in the Michigan area, but these were major suppliers,” he said.
O’Donnell said the influx of narcotics into the area has become a major problem in the past year and there has been an increase in supply and demand.
“A lot of the time what you will see is an individual will sometimes even buy a prescription from an elderly person who is trying to supplement their income because the economy is in such a shape right now,” O’Donnell said. “And drug dealers prey on that. And that leads to burglaries, robberies — and not to mention the fact of addiction. Some people are taking four to five of these 80 milligram OC’s every day. It’s the same as heroin addiction.”
Brumley said some of the connections between Michigan and Richmond may be “family members working together.”
O’Donnell said everyone involved in the recent busts believe the CKADTF way of working cases is leading to larger-scale arrests of “big fish” in the drug-trafficking market.
“Druggies always work together,” Brumley said. “Now when law enforcement works together, we can get the same productive results. But for the good of the community.”
CKADTF is comprised of the Madison, Jackson, Clark and Garrard County sheriff’s offices and the Berea Police Department. If you have drug activity in your neighborhood, call the CKADTF at 623-7867 or visit the task force’s Web site at www.CKADTF.com.
Heather Harris can be reached at hharris@richmondregister.com or by phone at 624-6694 or 893-2341.
