Raid, drug arrest shock neighbors

The mother of the man arrested says the home was ripped apart by the county task forces.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- The sound of two gunshots bounced off the siding on the cottage-style homes and echoed down Carnegie Avenue. As Kathy Walls ushered her children out of their small pool to safety, she noticed the men storming the house across the street.
They were wearing all black and carrying guns.
The men were members of the Mahoning County drug and violent crimes task forces, and they were executing a search warrant Wednesday afternoon at a home on Carnegie Avenue. Two officers said that as they entered the home, a pit bull lunged at them, growling and bearing its teeth.
Each officer shot the dog once, killing it.
The task force members and police then arrested Ismael Camacho III, 21, and charged him with trafficking in heroin, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Police said four syringes, two guns, pills and a plastic bag containing brown powder were found in the house.
Lt. Dave Allen, commander of the Mahoning Valley Drug Task Force, said law enforcement officials began investigating Camacho after receiving several anonymous tips that he was dealing heroin.
Charges faced
Camacho did not enter pleas Thursday morning in Mahoning County Court in Austintown to the felony trafficking and gun possession charges. He pleaded innocent to possession of drug paraphernalia.
Camacho, who describes himself as a roofer/landscaper, posted $10,000 bond. His next court appearance is set for 9 a.m. June 20.
Walls thinks the arrest was an isolated episode in the neighborhood. Carnegie Avenue resident Nancy Brooks added, "I hope nothing like that happens very often."
"It's a real quiet neighborhood," Walls said. "There's never been any problems."
Walls' neighbors also described the area as being quiet. Most of them are senior citizens or young families.
Carnegie Avenue is in the Wickliffe neighborhood north of Mahoning Avenue near North Four Mile Run Road. One-story middle class homes line the street, and children play basketball and draw with chalk on the driveways.
"Kids were going up and down the street when the drug task force came in," Carnegie Avenue resident Cindy Phillips said.
Most wouldn't picture a man authorities accuse of being a heroin dealer living in the neighborhood, much less at the Carnegie Avenue home. The cottage-style home is well-kept, with a lawn that had been recently trimmed and yellow flowers in a front garden.
Pink and white flowers grow in pots on a porch railing and the front of the home is covered with a dark wood. A small sparrow constantly flies back and forth to its nest in a gutter.
Mother's comments
"I've done my best. Every penny I have extra I put into my house," said Camacho's mother, Elisa Matias, who rents the home. Matias said she and her two sons, 13 and 11, and her 10-year-old daughter moved to the home from Campbell about three months ago.
"I want to show my kids that they can live like this," she said.
Camacho stays at the house from time to time.
"I liked the neighborhood because it's a family neighborhood," Matias said. "Everybody looks out for everyone. Everybody has manners."
Matias added that in the wake of the raid, her neighbors have expressed their concern for her family and offered to help clean up her home, which, she said, was ripped apart by the task forces.
She would have helped task force members open doors, boxes and closets in the home if they had asked. "I feel invaded," Matias said. "I don't feel like this is my home anymore."
Matias said she had gone to pick her children up from their grandparents' home. After her sons learned of the raid, they refused to come home.
"I don't want my children to think that all cops are bad," Matias said.
Widespread problem
Austintown Police Lt. Mark Durkin and Ken Cardinal, the prosecutor for county court in Austintown, said Camacho's arrest shows that drugs aren't just a problem in cities.
"Drug problems are present in most communities," Durkin said. "We turn up drugs on people from all walks of life.
"It's a matter of who's distributing them and where they're living," he said.
Carnegie Avenue resident Connie Vinion added, "It's going to happen anywhere. It could happen next door."
"I feel so sorry for his mom," Walls said. "You don't want to believe your kids are doing things like that."
Carnegie Avenue resident Ron Rhoades said Camacho's family was quiet and kept to themselves. Rhoades added he wasn't worried about drug dealing there.
"If there were cars coming in and out of the house all the time, I'd be worried," he said. "But there's not."
hill@vindy.com