Pubdate: Fri, 07 May 2004
Source: Bolivar Commercial, The (MS)
Copyright: 2004 The Bolivar Commercial, a division of Cleveland Newspapers, Inc
Contact:  http://www.bolivarcom.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1775
Author: Aimee Robinette, BC Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

ROSEDALE LINKED TO DRUGS

"It's amazing how a little town like Rosedale can be connected to a place 
like Nantucket," said Detective Jerry Mack, of the Nantucket Police 
Department in an article about drug trafficking in The Inquirer and Mirror, 
a newspaper in Nantucket, Mass.

Anthony Gibson, the director of the Rosedale Police Department, said he 
found out that the article had been published after one of his officers 
brought him a copy he had printed from the Internet. The officer discovered 
the article after high school students in Rosedale were passing around 
their own copies at West Bolivar High School.

The article said since May 2000, the Nantucket Police Department has 
investigated 35 separate individuals from Rosedale for suspected 
crack-cocaine dealing in the wealthy Massachusetts island of 10,000.

It also explained that the local police said the "Rosedale connection" 
accounted for nearly all of the crack dealing on the island, and 
investigations of people from Rosedale and surrounding Mississippi towns 
made up 70 percent of the total drug investigations by the Nantucket Police 
Department.

The Bolivar Commercial made numerous calls to the Nantucket Police 
Department, but was unable to talk with a detective. A police records 
clerk, however, confirmed the names of four Rosedale residents who had been 
arrested.

"Drugs are in just about every city in America," Gibson said. "Not just 
Rosedale."

Gibson, who spoke to a reporter from the Nantucket paper about three weeks 
ago, also said he was misquoted in the article. The article quoted Gibson 
as saying he was aware of the problem and is taking steps to stop the flow 
of crack dealers leaving Rosedale from Nantucket.

"They leave here looking poor and come back with a lot of money and nice 
cars," Gibson was quoted in the article. "We have busted some of them and 
we're investigating a lot of them, but it's something that has been 
happening for years. I haven't figured out why Nantucket gets a lot of 
these guys. There's someone up there they're connected with."

Gibson said Thursday afternoon that he never told (;I);The Inquirer and 
Mirror (;I);the drugs were coming from Rosedale.

"I don't know that they are selling drugs in Nantucket," he explained. "I 
have heard that, but I don't know it for sure.

"I just feel like Rosedale is like every other place - we're not getting 
assistance here like other communities in Bolivar County," he added. 
"Agencies like the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics come in twice a year to 
deal with a few suspects, but they are in and out in a few hours.

"An investigation needs to happen. Crack and meth are just all over," 
Gibson said. "We need more street investigations more often, not just once 
in a while."

A Nantucket detective said that Rosedale "is where the stuff is coming 
from, it's all from that area."

"I've never been to Nantucket, but geographically speaking, I'm sure they 
get drugs from all over, just like we do," said Joe Smith, a narcotics 
investigator with the Bolivar County Sheriff's Department. "Cocaine is made 
in South America, and the drug works its way up north. The price goes up 
the farther north it goes."

The price goes up since there is more risk of getting caught and going to 
jail, especially as far as Nantucket is from Rosedale. A gram of crack 
costs $20 in Bolivar County, but in Nantucket the price could at least 
double, according to Smith.

"We have gotten information that people are traveling from Rosedale to 
Nantucket selling drugs," he added."We have also arrested several of the 
same people for drugs from Rosedale that Nantucket Police Department has, 
so there's definitely a connection there, and has been for at least two years."

"I hate that this type of publicity that puts all of Mississippi in a bad 
light, when it's not Rosedale, the town (or) the community itself, but a 
few people who lived there and have been caught for drugs in Nantucket," he 
finished.

On Monday, Eric A. Griffin, 31, of Rosedale, was indicted by a Nantucket 
County grand jury on charges of possession of cocaine with intent to 
distribute in a school zone, according to the article.

Griffin, along with James E. Johnson Jr., 40, was nabbed during a raid on 
Aug. 2, 2003. The raid allegedly resulted in the seizure of 14 "rocks" of 
crack cocaine with a street value of $1,400, along with crack pipes, 
plastic bags and $5,000 in cash.

After police busted down the door of the house, Griffin allegedly fled the 
property on foot and ran about 100 yards before police caught him. After 
the raid, Det. Adams said Griffin was "the main supplier for the island for 
crack cocaine," according to the article.

Griffin later missed a January court appearance because he was shot in 
Mississippi during an alleged drug transaction.

Most recently, a Jan. 5 raid netted six rocks of crack with a street value 
of around $600, a small amount of marijuana, $890 in cash and plastic bags, 
scales, crack pipes, small butane torches and other drug paraphernalia. 
Three people, including Charles Banks, 24, of Rosedale, were arrested 
during the raid.

According to The Inquirer and Mirror, Police believe Banks was one of the 
major players in the island's cocaine trade prior to the raid, filling the 
void created by Griffin's arrest. Although he was initially charged with 
possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, the charges were reduced 
to possession of cocaine after Banks agreed to serve 90 days in the 
Barnstable House of Corrections.

In another recent case against a Rosedale suspect, charges of possession of 
cocaine with intent to distribute against Jeremy Starks, 23, were dismissed 
last week when Judge W. James O'Neill threw out the charges against him 
after ruling police had conducted an illegal search of his car.

On Feb. 24, officers stopped Starks in a red Mercury Tracer after he left 
what police called a "known drug house" on Atlantic Avenue. Although a 
search of the vehicle revealed 11 baggies of powdered cocaine and one bag 
of crack, as well as $1,100 in cash, Judge O'Neill ruled the police did not 
have probable cause to make the stop in the first place, according to the 
article.

Investigator Charles "Buster" Bingham would not comment on the situation or 
any investigation concerning Rosedale or Nantucket.
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