Our own Carl Jr. - putting his Criminal Justice degree from Champlain to work:(From St. Albans Times):
Sheriff’s office seizes cocaine
Written By Leon Thompson
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Drug’s value put at $55,000; two cited
ST. ALBANS TOWN –– Add the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office to the list of local law enforcement agencies that are making huge drug busts.
Last weekend, the Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the U.S. Border Patrol, confiscated nearly $55,000 in cocaine from two men they believe are part of a larger distribution ring.
Shaun M. Lacross, 21, of Enosburg, and Robert L. Martin, 43, of Berkshire, were arrested Sunday for felony possession of cocaine and were lodged at Chittenden County Regional Correctional Facility, pending their arraignments Monday.
Sheriff’s investigators anticipate they will make at least two more arrests in the case, though they are unsure when. The sheriff’s office is working with the Franklin County State’s Attorney’s Office to determine if and when those arrests will be made.
“This is a significant amount of cocaine,” Det. Michael Sisino said Monday, during a press conference at the sheriff’s St. Albans Town office. “It’s a tremendous amount.”
Prior to the arrests, the sheriff’s office was investigating a northeastern Franklin County cocaine ring for about five months. The case broke open in Richford just after midnight Sunday, when Deputy Will Ruprecht tried to stop a black motorcycle for a traffic violation.
Lacross, the operator of the motorcycle, allegedly refused to stop and led Ruprecht on a 2-mile pursuit at speeds of 100 to 120 miles per hour. Lacross lost control on a curve, slid his motorcycle onto the road, and tried to get away on foot, said police.
Ruprecht apprehended Lacross and took him into custody.
“Once he was caught, he was relatively compliant,” Ruprecht said yesterday.
Other deputies arrived and helped search Lacross, who allegedly carried a white, cloth bag containing 37.8 grams of cocaine valued at $3,800. Lacross also carried a digital scale, a rolled up dollar bill, and about $1,400 in cash, said police.
Later Sunday afternoon, the sheriff’s office executed a search warrant at Martin’s home and discovered another 500.5 grams of cocaine valued at $51,000, along with several digital scales and other drug-related paraphernalia. Martin was home at the time and complied with authorities.
He allegedly stored the cocaine in a green, cloth bag decorated with a red snowman and the words “LET IT SNOW,” also written in red.
Martin also handed over a .25-caliber, semiautomatic pistol that was sitting next to the bag of cocaine in his home. Authorities did not take two hunting rifles that Martin stored in a safe.
“They were separate from the location of the cocaine,” Sisino said. “They were locked up, and they were hunting-style weapons. It actually took the owner a while to find the key to the safe. They certainly didn’t appear to be used very often or readily accessible.”
Sheriff’s deputies executed a second search warrant at an Enosburg home early Sunday evening and found evidence of further drug trafficking and distribution. The sheriff’s office released no further information about that warrant.
Sisino said he believes the cocaine supply confiscated from Lacross and Martin came from southern New England. The U.S.-Canada border did not appear to play a role in their operation, Sisino said.
Sisino suspects that Lacross and Martin were cocaine users and dealers.
Franklin County Sheriff Robert Norris said his office’s investigation and similar drug busts, such as Operation Rail City, have made a dent in supply and demand in the local drug market.
“It’s a lucrative business,” the sheriff said. “Law enforcement obviously is not going to give up this fight.”
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