Archie Lee of the Herschelwood Hardheads
HOUSTON - Nine Houston residents have been arrested in what the U.S. Department of Justice is referring to as the "largest PCP seizure in DEA history."
The Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Marshals Service, Texas Department of Public Safety, Harris County Sheriff's Office, San Jacinto County Sheriff's Office, Houston Police Department and Pasadena Police Department worked together to conduct the arrests.
Houston residents Andre Smith, 52, Samuel Joseph Jackson, 35, Tyrone Dewayne Roberson, 38, Michael Ardion, 50, Archie Deneshe Harris, 34, Cameo Deshawn McAfee, 24, Joseph Lamar Broussard, 37, Karola Johnson-Gant, 43, and Chatela Jackson, 32, were arrested after a grand jury returned a federal indictment in November.
Smith was arrested in Mississippi where he made his first court appearance while Broussard was arrested in Louisiana. Broussard will be transferred to Houston to make his first court appearance. The other seven suspects will appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge John R. Froeschner in court Thursday.
The arrests are the result of Operation Scratch Off, an 18-month investigation conducted by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.
The task force seized a total of 57 gallons of actual PCP, the controlled substance itself, not the chemical components used to manufacture the controlled substance. The seizure was the largest of actual PCP in DEA history.
The arrests resulted in the unsealed four-count federal indictment of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute phencyclidine (PCP) and three counts of possession with the intent to distribute PCP.
All the defendants are charged in the first count of the indictment with conspiring between July 20, 2009, until the present to possess PCP with the intent to distribute it.
Samuel Jackson is charged in the second count of the indictment with possession with the intent to distribute PCP on Dec. 9, 2009. Jackson along with Harris and McAfee are charged in the third count of the indictment with possession with the intent to distribute PCP on March 2, 2010.
Smith is charged in the fourth count with possession with intent to distribute PCP on Aug. 24, 2010.
All four of the charges in the indictment carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life in federal prison and a maximum fine of $10,000,000 upon conviction. There is no parole in the federal system.
With the arrest of the nine Houston residents, Operation Scratch Off has resulted in 11 people charged. Two of the 11 people charged were previously arrested, have pleaded guilty and are pending sentencing.
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/nat...cp-seizure
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The largest seizure of the narcotic PCP in the history of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration resulted in the arrest of nine Houston residents Wednesday for allegedly conspiring to distribute enough of the powerful psychedelic to get at least 28 million people high, according to expert estimates.
Agents seized a whopping 57 gallons of the drug, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
PCP, or Phencyclidine, is known on the streets as angel dust, super grass, killer weed and rocket fuel.
The seizure of so much PCP could signal the emergence of a huge new market for the drug, which was popular in some areas in the 1970s but keeps a far lower profile than cocaine, marijuana or other illegal substances, authorities said.
"That represents a lot of money and a lot of users," said Stan Furce, director of Houston's High Intensity Drug Traffic Area, a coalition of federal and local law-enforcement agencies that stretches to the coastal counties.
"They almost don't feel any pain," Furce said of PCP users. "They become super agitated, rebellious and super strong. I would not want to go one-on-one against a PCP user ... wild-eyed, scary-looking dudes."
Operation Scratch Off
PCP can be taken in pill or powder form, or a cigarette can be dipped in the clear liquid and then smoked. It takes minutes to touch off unpredictable episodes lasting hours.
Wendell Campbell, spokesman for the DEA's Houston Division, said 1 gallon of PCP is conservatively enough to produce well over 500,000 dosage units.
It costs about $2,000 a gallon to make, and sells for about $22,000 a gallon, said Campbell, discussing the nationwide market.
As for the Houston bust, the nine defendants were accused under a sealed indictment in November, but charges weren't made public until Wednesday, when they were arrested.
Seven were arrested here and are expected to be brought before a federal magistrate today. Two others were arrested out of state, one in Mississippi and the other in Louisiana.
Those charged Wednesday with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute PCP include: Andre Smith, 52; Samuel Joseph Jackson, 35; Tyrone Dewayne Roberson, 38; Michael Ardion, 50; Archie Deneshe Harris, 34; Cameo Deshawn McAfee, 24; Joseph Lamar Broussard, 37; Karola Johnson Gant, 43; and Chatela Jackson, 32.
They face a minimum of 10 years in prison to as much as life.
The arrests are the result of an 18-month investigation dubbed Operation Scratch Off, according to the DOJ statement.
The 57 gallons were seized during the investigation, but authorities won't say specifically where or how they found the PCP.
Although the DOJ statement announced the indictment was "unsealed," documents were not available to the public at the federal courthouse as of late Wednesday and further details were not available.
Two other people pleaded guilty earlier in the investigation, according to prosecutors, but they were not named Wednesday.
Several agencies involved
Tom Hinojosa, acting chief if the DEA's Houston Division, said in a prepared statement that the investigation to capture the PCP and its alleged distributors is the result of a collaborative effort by several area agencies.
"The success of the investigation leading to today's arrests is a result of the close and sustained cooperation between DEA and our law-enforcement partners to target and remove drug-trafficking organizations operating in and around the Houston metro area."
On an informational Web site, the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office notes PCP can produce violent and bizarre behavior, and that violent acts committed while taking the drug cause more deaths than the drug's direct effect on the body.
It was originally developed in the 1950s as an anesthetic for humans, but because of its side effects was later restricted to use as a veterinary tranquilizer.
dane.schiller@chron.com
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