NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- More than a dozen accused street dealers were rounded up Thursday during a sweeping narcotics operation targeting illegal drug activity in the New Smyrna Beach and Edgewater area, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said.
"Spearheaded by the East Volusia Narcotics Task Force, Thursday's arrests capped off an approximately six-month effort to identify and investigate street-level drug dealers," Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said. "The effort paid off, with a total of 16 arrests. Narcotics investigators
are still searching for another 20 suspects named in the investigation."
During the course of the investigation, dubbed "Operation Crack Down," undercover officers and confidential informants collected evidence through more than 50 covert purchases of cocaine, marijuana and prescription pills from street dealers.
The investigation resulted in the issuance of arrest warrants for 35 suspects. Two of the defendants were arrested Thursday in their jail cells at the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach, where they were already in custody on unrelated charges.
Narcotics agents moved in Thursday and nabbed another 13 people on the arrest list. In total, 22 warrants were served on the following 15 defendants arrested Thursday:
* Xcenia Arch, 51, Edgewater. Sale of cocaine, $15,000 bond.
* John Boivin, 46, Edgewater. Sale and delivery of narcotics within 1,000 feet of a park, $25,000 bond.
* Brian Bond, 41, New Smyrna Beach. Sale of cocaine, $7,500 bond.
* Terry Brown, 43, New Smyrna Beach. Two counts of sale of cocaine, $22,500 bond.
* Patrick Edwards, 30, New Smyrna Beach. Trafficking in illegal
drugs, $7,500
* Patrick Gayle, 54, New Smyrna Beach. Sale and delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a business or place of worship, $25,000 bond.
* Wayne Lachance, Jr., 43, Edgewater. Three counts of sale and delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a park, $55,000.
* Thomas McDonald, Jr., 22, New Smyrna Beach. Sale of cocaine, $15,000.
* Marlon Mitchell, 30, New Smyrna Beach. Sale of cocaine, $10,000 bond.
* Patrick Morgan, 30, New Smyrna Beach. Sale of cocaine, $15,000 bond.
* Toney Morris, 52, New Smyrna Beach. Two counts of sale of cocaine, $15,000 bond.
* Major Richardson, Jr., 32, New Smyrna Beach. Two counts of sale of cocaine, $30,000 bond.
* Leeann Staley, 24, New Smyrna Beach. Two counts of sale of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a business or place of worship, $50,000 bond.
* Terilyn St. Rose, 39, New Smyrna Beach. Two counts of sale of cocaine, $25,000 bond.
* Gerald Wells, 46, Edgewater. Sale of cocaine, $15,000 bond.
In addition to the warrant round-up, narcotics agents with the assistance of SWAT units from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office and New Smyrna Beach Police Department executed a search warrant at a home on Palm Street in New Smyrna Beach.
Agents seized cocaine, marijuana and firearms from the house and charged 43-year-old Raymond Curry, Jr. with manufacture of cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Curry was being held at the jail on $30,500 bond. A second search warrant was executed at a house on Charlovix Street in New Smyrna Beach, where defendants Gayle and Morgan were arrested. After finding a small amount of marijuana in the home, agents additionally charged Morgan with possession of marijuana under 20 grams.
FAST FACTS: The East Volusia Narcotics Task Force is a multi-agency force of
narcotics agents from the Sheriff's Office and the Daytona Beach, Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach and Ormond Beach police departments that shares resources and crosses jurisdictional boundaries to combat street-level drug and vice crimes. Also assisting in Thursday's operation were the West Volusia Narcotics Task Force, the Volusia Bureau of Investigation, the New Smyrna Beach Police Department and the Sheriff's Office's Crime Suppression Team.