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Youngstown cops find cocaine packaged for sale
By joe gorman
youngstown
Police found 77 bags of crack cocaine either in the process of being packaged to sell or ready to hit the streets while serving a search warrant at a South Side home Thursday afternoon.
Johnny Dawson, 24, was arraigned in Youngstown Municipal Court on Friday on a charge of trafficking in drugs. He was arrested about 6:40 p.m. by members of the vice squad who were serving a search warrant at 566 Idora Ave.
Judge Robert Milich set his bond at $25,000.
When officers, who were assigned by the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force, entered the home, they found 60 loose piles of crack cocaine that were laid out to be packaged and 17 that already were in bags to be sold, said Lt. Gerald Slattery, head of the vice squad.
Slattery said the total amount of the crack found came to almost a half a gram, and at $20 a pop, its total worth was about $1,500.
He said he has seen other similar operations and that the amount is the average haul for the low-level street dealer.
Vice officers serving a warrant on the North Side earlier in the day arrested a man and cited two others.
Officers were serving a warrant at a vacant 145 Roslyn Ave. home about 5:25 p.m.
While they were at the back door, they saw a man go to the back door of the neighboring vacant home at 149 Roslyn Ave. to buy drugs there, reports said.
Inside the doorway of that home officers spotted Tyrell L. Hollis, 19, who had a bag of heroin and a scale with him, reports said.
He was arrested on charges of possession of drugs- heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia. His bond was set at $5,000 during his arraignment.
Anthony Sanders, 27, of Warren was the person who came to the back door, and he was cited for possession of a drug-abuse instrument after a crack pipe was found in his pocket.
Also in the back yard was Joseph Repko, 32, of Cortland, who was cited for the same charge after police searched him and found a syringe in his pocket.
In the backyard, police also found a loaded semi- automatic handgun, and in the 149 Roslyn Ave. home, they found a large quantity of plastic sandwich bags with the bottoms cut off, which is often the way the bags are prepared before they are ready for sale, reports said.