Heroin dealers 'brought to knees,' NCCo chief says
Forty-two people from Wilmington to Bear have been arrested or charged in a joint nine-month police and FBI investigation into heroin and other drug dealing in New Castle County, authorities said Friday.
Those targeted during Operation Smack Down face more than 400 counts ranging from trafficking to simple dealing to weapons possession, New Castle County Police Chief Elmer Setting said during a news conference at police headquarters.
"This is a great day for us to see a large-scale heroin operation brought to its knees," Setting said.
Delaware is in the midst of a heroin crisis that has received widespread media coverage, and was the subject of a News Journal forum last year.
While "smack" is a street name for heroin, which Setting has targeted as a top priority for the force, the multijurisdictional investigation's name comes from the leader of the crew targeted with the illegal drug trafficking and acts of violence – Adrin Smack.
Smack, the alleged kingpin, was one of more than 40 people indicted in connection with a heroin-dealing ring that was plaguing the Sparrow Run community in Bear, according Setting, who added that the men and women were a "torment" to people living in the development.
Setting said the group of those arrested include those involved in the middle-level distribution, street-level distribution down to the "end user."
"I can't give them all titles, but we believe Adrin Smack was primarily responsible for controlling all the low-level dealers. He was the puppet master pulling the strings on the whole thing," Setting said.
The scale of Smack's operation relative to others in the county is difficult to determine. Setting said there are likely others dealing at a similar scale as Smack, but could only speculate on how many.
"Do I think there are 100 or a dozen, I don't know," Setting said. "When you can come in and take more than 10,000 bags of heroin and weapons and that much cash in one house, I think that says something. We have a heroin problem."
Many of those indicted live in Sparrow Run, or were traveling between the Bear community and Wilmington dealing drugs, he added. He said the group's influence was likely felt throughout the state, with Sparrow Run as a base of operation.
"Many of them lay their head in Sparrow Run sometimes, but there are also residences in Wilmington and other places in Delaware. It goes far beyond one neighborhood," Setting said. "This is touching on Wilmington, Elsmere and other parts of Delaware. They ply their trade [in Sparrow Run] because it is on a major artery."
This criminal behavior "dissipates" the quality of life of people living in these communities, Setting said.
"We cannot tolerate all this property crime and prostitution and all the other crime that is directly related to heroin. Why else do they have loaded handguns and bullet-proof vests," Setting said.
He said the arrests included those forced by addiction into dealing and into prostitution.
"We are doing everything we can on the other end to get people to understand that this is not the type of drug to be involved in," he said.
The investigation began in August and involved police and agents from the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Office, Delaware and Maryland state police, as well as officers from the county, Wilmington and the Delaware Department of Correction's Probation and Parole.
A series of search warrants were executed Thursday throughout the county resulted in the seizure of:
•More than 10,000 bags of heroin, approximately 5.5 ounces.
•Nearly an ounce of marijuana.
•1.25 ounces of cocaine.
• $17,054.
•A 9-mm handgun, a .32 caliber revolver and ammunition.
Police released the names of the following people who have been arrested and charged with various offenses as a result of this investigation:
Adrin Smack, Corey Brittingham, Mik'trell Spriggs, Branden Carrigan, Kiree Wise, Bryan Shahadi, Kenneth Coleman, Charles Coleman, Kevin Coleman, Al-ghanny Price, Jesus Vasquez, Michael Dorn, Louis Visco, Tyerin Anderson, Ryan Kasees, Stefan Zyskowski, Sherry White, Daniel Haye, Aaron Alexander, Joshua Taylor, Casie Huber, Hulon Spences, Jesse Jorge, Amy Suber, Jessica Zeimer, William Roberts, Jesse Jorge, Darnell Smallwood.
Arrest warrants have been obtained for the following individuals in connection with this investigation:
Javon Cannon, 26, Adam Graham, 22, Jonathan Hilbeck, 23, Tiffany Smack, 26, Marco Medina-Acosta, 21, Robin Spicer, 26, and Danielle Terry, 27.
Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3. Contact senior investigative reporter Cris Barrish at (302) 324-2785, cbarrish@delawareonline.com, on Facebook or Twitter @crisbarrish.