Thursday, August 28, 2008
Grand Jury Returns 130 Indictments Against 52 Alleged Drug Dealers; Memphis Police Round-Up Defendants
MEMPHIS, TN – Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons and Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin announced Thursday that Memphis police officers served or attempted to serve warrants to 52 alleged drug dealers who were indicted for various felony drug violations by the state Grand Jury for Shelby County earlier this week.
The Grand Jury on Tuesday returned 130 indictments as a result of the “Operation Renewed Resolution” investigation. The indictments returned by the Grand Jury include charges of sale of a controlled substance, and unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture, deliver or sell. The drug charges primarily involve the sale or possession of cocaine, but some of the charges involve marijuana. The indictments resulted in numerous Class B, C, and E felony charges.
The round-up of defendants was the third phase of “Operation Renewed Resolution,” an investigation into 14 alleged drug houses throughout the city each within one mile of a school. The investigation was part of the Memphis Police Department’s Blue C.R.U.S.H.™ initiative. About twenty of the defendants were indicted as a result of drug trafficking out of the 14 houses.
In late January, the D.A.’s Office filed nuisance petitions against the owners of the properties that were targeted. An environmental court judge ordered 13 of those properties closed.
According to the nuisance petitions filed in this case, undercover officers purchased or witnessed the
purchase of crack cocaine inside the properties on numerous occasions. Some of the drug sales were made during the middle of the afternoon when children were walking home from school.
Police officers started the round-up of defendants on early Thursday morning. The names of defendants in custody at this time will be released separately. The defendants range in age from 18-52. Memphis police have verified that 26 of the defendants are known gang members from the Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords, Raymond Street Crips, and Lemoyne Garden Gang. Six vehicles used to transport illegal narcotics were seized in today’s operation.
“The drug dealers and gang members picked up today should have known this was coming. Our efforts under the Blue C.R.U.S.H.™ initiative and OCU undercover to go after the criminal gangs, guns and drugs in our neighborhoods are not going to let up any time soon,” said Director Godwin.
“Once again, the Memphis Police Department has brought us some very good cases. We will continue to use this two-fold approach to rid our neighborhoods of drug crime. We will go after the property owners who allow these houses and other buildings to be crime havens, and we will go after the individual drug dealers and hold them accountable for threatening our community,” said District Attorney Gibbons.
The D.A.’s Office has a conviction rate of more than 95 percent in drug cases prosecuted as a result of Memphis police Blue C.R.U.S.H.™ undercover investigations.
The standard sentence for a Class B felony is 8-12 years in prison; the standard sentence for a Class C felony is 3-6 years; and the standard sentence for a Class E felony is 1-2 years.
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Posted on Thursday, February 14, 2008 (Archive on Thursday, February 21, 2008)
Posted by jdonnals Contributed by jdonnals
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