Drug sweep: 20 suspects now in custody
Operation April Fools was no joke to a group of 20 alleged drug dealers arrested Thursday in another drug sweep spearheaded by the Franklin County Narcotics Task Force.
The operation, which began some seven months ago, was the result of confidential informants making a series of undercover drug buys, according to Franklin County District Attorney Derek Champagne.
The vast majority of the sales range between $250 and $500 which is clearly at a higher level than any of our previous operations he said. These are people that are dealing with more money and more product and were clearly trying to move up the ladder. The suspects in custody were involved in the sale of marijuana, cocaine and prescription medications, Champagne said.
A series of raids began before 5 A.M. Thursday in communities across the county. Arrest warrants were served in Tupper Lake, Malone, Brushton, Hogansburg, Fort Covington, Constable, Moira, North Bangor and Westville. 20 arrests were made and each suspect now faces felony and/or misdemeanor charges. Two other suspects are still at large. The task force also seized 8.5 pounds of high-grade marijuana worth $25,000.
Counting Thursday's drug sweep, Champagne said more than 80 drug-related arrests have now been made by the task force in the past 15 months. The task force has really taken a pro-active approach, instead of being reactive to the narcotics problem he said. It's just a question of having manpower and logistics to address it. Now we've got tremendous cooperation from Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake PD as well as New York State Police. Now we're truly making a coordinated effort through the task force to address these issues in Franklin County.
Champagne extended his appreciation to several officers who played an integral role in the drug sweep including Thomas Fee and Eric Proulx of the Tupper Lake Police Department and Leigh Wenske and Bruce Nason of the Saranac Lake Police Department.
Among the Tupper Lake residents facing drug sale charges are 19 year-old James Sears, 46 year-old Terry Hoy, 24 year-old Broderick Cross, 30 year-old Michelle Lanthier, 25 year-old Scott Lanthier and 24 year old-Brandy Methot. Each was charged with third-degree criminal sale of marijuana with the exception of Michelle Lanthier, who's facing a count of criminal sale of a controlled substance.
Those already arraigned were taken to the Franklin County Jail on various amounts of bail. Several more arraignments will take place today.
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