Nab 12 In Drug Bust
A drug sweep orchestrated by East Hampton, Southampton, and New York State police last Thursday resulted in the arrests of 12 persons on an assortment of narcotics charges.
A three-month investigation involving drug buys by undercover police culminated in a pre-dawn roundup of those indicted, starting around 5 a.m. Teams of officers spread out to Southampton Village, Bridgehampton, Sag Harbor, and East Hampton to make the arrests.
Like the major "Save Our Streets" sweep a year ago in Riverhead and Southampton, which resulted in the arrests of 72 people, last week's "Operation South Fork" was specifically targeted at street-level drug-dealing.
Two Were In Jail
In a press release hailing the arrests, Southampton Town police said they would "impact significantly on local street operations, which are the greatest source of complaints from frustrated area residents."
Two of those indicted last Thursday were already in jail on other charges, including 17-year-old James E. Street of the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike, who was charged with nine counts each of third-degree criminal sale and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance - the most among the 12 defendants.
He was presented with the charges at the county jail in Riverhead, along with Terrell Richardson, 31, of Southampton, charged with two counts of third-degree sale and possession. Mr. Richardson has been in jail since July.
Four In Sag Harbor
Operation South Fork also netted one East Hampton man, David Wilson, 37, of Springs-Fireplace Road. He was awakened at his house by a team of eight police officials, including two state police investigators and six East Hampton Town officers and detectives.
He was charged with third-degree possession and third-degree sale of a controlled substance.
Four of the 12 arrests sprang from a 7 a.m. visit to one Sag Harbor house. A team had gone to a house on Carroll Street to arrest Kevin S. Street, 33, on an indictment warrant. Checking the house, they allegedly found three of his housemates to be in possession of smoking paraphernalia with traces of cocaine.
Charged with seventh-degree possession of a controlled substance were Adrienne M. Drake, 26, Christopher Page, 40, and Debra Lynn Topping, 32.
Possession And Sale
Kevin Street was charged with third-degree possession and third-degree sale of a controlled substance, based on the warrant, as well as another count of seventh-degree possession for allegedly having a crack pipe and small glass jar with cocaine residue at the time of the arrest.
Others charged with third-degree criminal sale and possession in last week's sweep were Javon P. Harding, 20, of Southampton (two counts); Randall T. Davis, 28, of Huntington Crossway, Bridgehampton (four counts); Vincent Wilson, 30, of Southampton (two counts), and Alvin Walker, 44, of Southampton (four counts).
Another defendant, 36-year-old Warren D. White of the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike, Bridgehampton, turned himself in to police last Thursday. He had an active warrant for three counts of third-degree possession and sale.
State Operation
Though East Hampton Town police made only one arrest within the town, the department participated in the investigation, contributing one of its detectives for undercover work, sharing information, and assisting in the sweep.
Det. Lieut. Edward Ecker of the town police said the drug sweep was coordinated largely by state police, who run a narcotics branch out of Farmingdale.
State police also participated in last year's sweep in Riverhead and Southampton and in a drug sweep in Montauk and East Hampton a month later that netted 14 more arrests.
"During the winter, [state police] decided maybe East Hampton and Southampton should get together on something," Lieutenant Ecker said.
Several of those arrested, he explained, had been targets of an earlier town police investigation while residents of the Whalebone Village apartments on Accabonac Highway in East Hampton.