Grant was treated at Meritus Medical Center and released to authorities, Kerns said. nyone wishing to report narcotics information is encouraged to contact the task force by calling 301-791-3205, emailing, Get the Android Weather app from Google Play, Best smart home devices for older users, according, How to get started on spring cleaning early, according, Worried about your student using ChatGPT for homework? 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Caroline and Dorchester County Task Forces, Homeland Security Investigations and Drug Enforcement Administration, were further assisted by Dorchester County States Attorneys Office, Dorchester County Sheriffs Office, MSP Special Operations Group, MSP STATE Team, MSP Homicide, MSP PACE, MSP Gun Unit, MSP Criminal Investigations (Easton, Centreville, Salisbury, Princess Anne and Worcester), MSP Technical Surveillance Unit, Easton Police Department, Wicomico County Sheriffs Office, Talbot County Narcotics Task Force, Kent County Narcotics Task Force, Queen Annes County Narcotics Task Force, Somerset County Narcotics Task Force, Queen Anne's County Sheriffs Office, Federalsburg Police, and the Hurlock Police Department. This has been very beneficial since drug violators frequently move through the tri-state area. Its a huge step forward. Before long, he was buying heroin because it was cheaper than pills, and he went from snorting to injecting it, simply to maintain the same highand eventually just to function, if you could call it that. Grant was being held without bond Wednesday at the Washington County Detention Center. Spain is being held at the Caroline County Detention Center without bond. Through further investigation, law enforcement determined that Smith supplied narcotics to Tyler and Eddie Ware, Hagerstown, Maryland heroin and fentanyl drug dealers. She discusses plans for the rollout of a new awareness program, Washington Goes Purple, a symbolic color adopted by opioid prevention advocates, geared toward steering youth away from substance abuse. With the highways and economic factors, its all a perfect storm.. U.S. Attorney's Office December 21, 2012. Maybe 10-15 percent dont give you any problem and are trying to do the right thing, says Lee Green, an addictions counselor who is also an active member of a 12-step program. He was released after posting his $5,000 bond. Gregory Lovern Williams Jr., 39, of Federalsburg, Maryland. Though extreme, the transition seemed gradual. Meanwhile, health care, housing, and education costs have skyrocketed over the ensuing decades, but wages, adjusted for inflation, have remained essentially flat in Hagerstown, growing just 5 percent in total over that 25-year span. in Hagerstowns North End, according to Lt. Todd Kerns, who served as the task forces director in 2013. October of 2011, I woke up one day and thought, this is the day you die or the day you get clean. Situated near the Potomac River and what was once Western Maryland and West Virginia coal country, Hagerstown served as a vital gateway to the fertile Midwest. When a methadone clinic was first proposed at this site, two blocks from Hagerstowns main street, in the spring of 2001, it was met with vehement opposition. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. And now, Hagerstowns unique coordinates, once its greatest asset, play a leading role in enabling its public health crisis. On at least 30 separate occasions between April 8 and May 8, 2019, Smith visited Tyler Wares residence. I fully bought into the War on Drugs and what Reagan was doing, he says. But there is often trauma, or simply the stress of living in poverty, that is putting them under intense pressure.. Maryland bust nets $1M in drugs, 9 arrests, 34 guns Authorities said they seized more than $1 million in drugs, including 18 kilograms of cocaine, 2.7 kilograms of heroin and . On at least 30 separate occasions between April 8 and May 8, 2019, Smith visited Tyler Wares residence. Agents say anyone wishing to report narcotics information is encouraged to contact the task force by calling 301-791-3205, emailing drugtip@washco-md.net, orvisiting their website at wcntf.net. While this is small victory for the task force, agents say the communitys drug problem is far from over. She can be reached via email at julieg@herald-mail.com. But how many people do you know that have been attacked by a terrorist? -- The number of meth cases, particularly of one-pot meth labs in Western Maryland, has been experiencing a recent surge. And for the past two-and-a-half decades, the city has taken a public health approach to addiction, offering methadone programs, needle exchanges, HIV testing, and inpatient treatment opportunities before the pharmaceutical industry dumped OxyContin and other opioids onto a nave market. Beckette also was charged with possession of a large amount of heroin (more than 28 grams); possession of a firearm in relationship to a drug-trafficking crime; creating a common nuisance through distributing narcotics; and theft of less than $1,000 in value, according to Kerns and online court records. According to his guilty plea, on March 18, 2019, law enforcement received an anonymous tip from a Hagerstown, Maryland storage facility customer reporting that an individual driving a large SUV and a storage unit conducted a suspected drug deal at the facility. The Caroline County Drug Task Force started the investigation by looking into the operation of a drug trafficking organization believed to be distributing large amount of cocaine, opioids,. We have a long way to go, but the school has brought life downtown, Hovermale says. In 2019, there were 119 non-fatal and 24 fatal overdoses reported in Allegany County. Its a problem, says former Hagerstown police chief Victor Brito, who resigned in May to lead the Rockville force. Lewis Chamberlain, two counts of distribution of heroin. Its these fast-rolling interstates that carry the deadly opioids, including heroin and fetanyl, flooding Marylands western counties. Lenin Erasmo Luna Mota, also known as Papi, 48, of the Dominican Republic, is one of 34 people indicted by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of West Virginia on charges stemming froma multi-state drug operation, according to Randolph J. Bernard, the district's acting U.S. attorney. This place is a blessing. EASTON, Md. After several months of investigation and the help of several agencies, nine people have been indicted for allegedly being apart of a drug trafficking organization in two Maryland Eastern Shore counties. Employment or private drug testing options: 5, 10, 12 panel urine drug tests, DOT drug testing and DOT Random Pool, breath alcohol, EtG 3 day alcohol tests, 90 day hair follicle drug tests. The drugs seized during the investigation amounted to 8.6 kilograms of cocaine, 1.02 kilograms of heroin, and 12 ounces of crack cocaine, with a street value of approximately $471,000. One of the biggest mistakes city officials made was failing to sufficiantly upgrade Municipal Stadium, the nearly 90-year-old home of the minor league Hagerstown Suns, or build a new ballpark downtown. Inside the bedroom, Heather Strausbaugh sat talking with her client the conversation ranged from nightlife and bars to their families. Others arrive in pajamas and sweatpants, barely awake, clutching telltale lockboxes for take-home doses. icki Sterling, director of the Washington County Health Departments Division of Behavorial Health Services, says the turning point for the county in addressing the opioid epidemic was the death of former Hagerstown police sergeant Kevin Simmers daughter, Brooke, who overdosed on heroin 10 days after she had been released from a four-month prison stay. Doctor Explains. 2023 Washington County. I wanted to knock down doors and haul bad guys off to jail, and thats what I did for 30 years., Since his daughters death, Simmers and Brooke's stepmother, Dana, have been very public about sharing their experience, sparing none of their familys worst moments and pain. Several weapons were seized, including two stolen handguns, as well as rifles and shotguns, Kerns said. Washington, D.C. Man Convicted After Nine-Day Trial for Use of a Firearm in Connection with a Murder and a Robbery, and for a Drug Distribution Conspiracy. The task force also arrested Shawn Oliver on Monday for having an active warrant out for his arrest for the distribution of heroin, police said. The seizures, and the refills, continued for about eight months, then ceased, but Morningstar found himself dependent on the narcoticphysically, mentally, and emotionally. Police allege Anthony Latimer, 41, Hagerstown, was dealing drugs from his car when Alpha Platoon patrol officers approached the car in the 300 block of North Jonathan Street at 5:30 a.m. Latimer stepped . Opioids may be the deadliest catastrophe to hit Hagerstown, but the current crisis follows a long string of blows to a city that never made the transition from a mechanical to a hi-tech economy. a shuttered barber shop on Jonathan Street. Across the country, rural addiction rates have surpassed those in urban areas, yet there is still not a single inpatient drug treatment facility in Washington County. Thats how strong the grip of this addiction is.. Robison. The first search was in the 500 block of Lynnehaven Drive in Hagerstown. NOW PLAYING ABOVE. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. We kind of got shit pie handed to us., Source: Maryland Vital Statistics Administration. As stated in his plea agreement, on August 9, 2019, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Smiths Hagerstown, Maryland residence. Theyre bringing in students from nearby counties and occasionally out of state. Spain is being held without bond at the Caroline County Detention Center. Some NTF agents are even deputized by the DEA as Federal Task Force Officers (TFO's). "Drug traffickers don't work nine-to-five hours, so the people investigating this case have to work 24-seven, and this team worked for approximately a year investigating this case," he said. His associate, 33-year-old Rodney Gaines, or "Butta" was also arrested. Photography by Benjamin C. Tankersley | July 2018. the sun has yet to rise over South Mountain, but already a line of cars is arriving at the Phoenix Health Center in Hagerstown. The person arrested on the outstanding warrant was Violet Benjamin, 53, of Hagerstown. During the early morning hours of December 20 th, the Allegany County Sheriff's Office with the assistance of numerous allied agencies executed search and seizure warrants at three separate locations in the Town of Westernport. Now, however, nearly all of the rails leading into downtown have been removed. Stephen McCormick, two counts of distribution of cocaine. Thirty-two-year-old City Councilwoman Emily Keller, a go-getter single mom and insurance agent, lost her oldest friend to an overdose and ran for office specifically to lead the fight against the opioid epidemic. Attorneys Christina A. Hoffman and Joan Mathias, who are prosecuting the case. He moved toThe Frederick News-Postin 1989 but lived in Hagerstown until 2000. Local Hagerstown, MD. He moved on to 10-milligram Percocet, then 30-milligram.