Cooke County —
Cooke County Sheriff’s Department officials reported a trio of drug busts carried out Friday on Buck and Commerce streets in Gainesville.
Sheriff Terry Gilbert said eight people were taken into custody. The busts were a coordination among his criminal investigation and patrol sections; Gainesville Police Department; Children’s Protective Services (CPS); and Immigration Customs Enforcement. During the arrests, CPS officers removed and placed three children between the ages of six months and 10 years.
Gilbert said Monday his department couldn’t release names or mugshots of the suspects, since an investigation into further arrests continues.
But he also said the bust is progress in cleaning up select areas in Gainesville.
His department’s eight arrests were the result of two weeks of inspection.
“We’re dealing with illegal aliens and we’re hoping we can put a huge dent in their supply,” Gilbert said Monday, adding that the most problematic drugs of choice in local areas are cocaine and methamphetamine. “People are burglarizing and stealing things to pay for their habit. So they’re going to steal your TV to pay for their dope.”
The residents were in the 900 block of Buck Street and the 500 block of North Commerce Street.
The eight suspects were charged with manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance (an amount between one and four grams), manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance (an amount between four and 200 grams), immigration violations and engaging in organized criminal activity.
During the busts, investigators found and seized three handguns, including one that had been reported missing from the Moss Lake area in 2007.
Officers also seized 25 grams of cocaine, valued at $2,500; two automobiles; digital scales; drug baggies; and $3,500 in U.S. currency.
Such evidence is used in prosecution at a later date, Gilbert said.
Once the related cases are complete, the actual drugs are sent to a facility — following a court order — and destroyed.
The sheriff also said this process of eradicating seized drugs is a change from years past.
“The old days of flushing it down the toilet doesn’t work,” Gilbert said. “It used to be that you’d go out and have major burns.
They’d get pounds of marijuana out into a field and set gas to it and burn it.”
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