Drug indictees fill court

Innocent pleas entered; only 3 of 71 still at large

Helena-West Helena police officer Winston Dean Jackson, a former Phillips County sheriff’s deputy, peeks out from behind paperwork Thursday as he waits to get into a van at the federal courts building in Little Rock.
Helena-West Helena police officer Winston Dean Jackson, a former Phillips County sheriff’s deputy, peeks out from behind paperwork Thursday as he waits to get into a van at the federal courts building in Little Rock.

— The first court appearance for most of the people indicted in a wide-ranging federal drug and corruption probe created a tumultuous panorama at Little Rock’s federal courts building Thursday.

The scene, which drove home the magnitude of “Operation Delta Blues,” included fussy babies, long lines,people weaving through crowds and voices barking for order.

As dozens of lawyers milled around a crowded courtroom waiting to be appointed as public defenders, one remarked, “This is crazy, man. I feel like I’m at the State Fair.”

Fifty-one people, including five law enforcement officers, pleaded innocent and were returned to the Pulaski County jail to await bail hearings scheduled in the coming days.

Ten with more minor charges signed bond agreements and went home.

Only three of the 71 people indicted remained at large Thursday, said Special Agent Steve Frazier, spokesman for the FBI’s Little Rockfield office.

A handful of others - authorities didn’t have the precise number available - were already in custody early Tuesday morning when hundreds of lawmen from the FBI, the Arkansas State Police and other agencies swarmed out to make arrests.

An FBI special agent was shot during one arrest but was not seriously injured and was later released from the hospital.

The arrests were the culmination of an investigation into corruption and drug trafficking near the Mississippi River Delta town of Helena-West Helena.

On Thursday, federal officials apprehended four more people charged in drug trafficking, including Charles Hunter and Torrance C. Davis, Frazier said. Later in the day, they captured Melinda Parker and Melvin Brown, who authorities say were indicted on drug-dealing charges.

Hunter is accused of receiving “distribution quantities” of cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana from Sedrick Trice, who is identified as the leader of a large drug-trafficking operation based in Helena-West Helena, according to an indictment.

Trice’s indictment, the longest of the seven handed up, outlines a vast operation that reached into Phillips County, Clarksdale, Miss., and Memphis.

Davis is accused of supplying drug dealers and collecting the proceeds of drug sales for Torrance Turner, the leader of a Marianna-based drug-trafficking operation, according to an indictment.

Federal authorities were still hunting for Milton Johnson, Kentrell Starks and Marlon Sheard late Thursday. The three are accused of working for either Trice or Turner in various drug-dealing activities.

Early Thursday morning, a slow-moving line extended from the security screening area inside the glass atrium of the federal court building. Lawyers fell in line with defendants’ family members who had traveled from the Helena-West Helena area.

They fumbled with purses, belts and briefcases as U.S. marshals screened everyone entering the building. Many were turned away because they had cell phones with cameras, which aren’t permitted inside the building.

A woman bounced her baby daughter on her hip as she slipped her shoes off her feet and placed them in a plastic bin to be scanned.

The first defendants to face U.S. Magistrate Judge Joe Volpe on Thursday morning were the five law enforcement officers. Being held in protective custody, they lined up in prison scrubs, handcuffs and leg chains.

An overflow crowd of family members quietly watched the proceedings. Several wept.

Helena-West Helena police officers Herman Eaton, Robert “Bam Bam” Rogers and Marlene Kalb; Marvell officer Robert Wahls; and former Phillips County sheriff’s Deputy Winston Dean Jackson, now a Helena-West Helena police officer, were all appointed attorneys and will remain in custody at least until bail hearings scheduled for today and early next week.

Eaton’s attorney told Volpe that her client needed a bail hearing as soon as possible because he had five minor children to care for at home. Rogers also asked for an early hearing because he is the primary caregiver for two children whose mother left the home more than a year ago after struggling with drug addiction.

Most who appeared before Volpe on Thursday were tentatively scheduled for jury trials on Nov. 14 and Nov. 15, but most cases are expected to be continued.

Eaton, Rogers and Kalbare accused of escorting drug shipments and receiving $500 each from someone posing as a drug dealer. Wahls is charged with accepting money from an informant and escorting a drug shipment.

Investigators say Jackson was caught on a federal wiretap talking to another sheriff’s deputy about a payment by a defense attorney in exchange for “failing to perform law enforcement duties.”

The unidentified sheriff’s deputy said the payment fell under “the good old boy” system and that anyone not participating would “get rolled over.”

According to the indictment, Jackson responded, “You get rolled over, exactly. Cause nobody say ... ain’t nothing but the good old boy system.”

Those suspected of being drug-network ringleaders also pleaded innocent in court Thursday. Sedrick Trice is accused of directing a drug trafficking ring that paid off law enforcement officials, while Demetrius Colbert is accused of supplying cocaine and crack to Trice and other dealers.

When Colbert said in court Thursday that he couldn’t afford to hire an attorney, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Peterstold Volpe that authorities had found $423,000 inside an Oldsmobile Cutlass belonging to Colbert, and that he owned other luxury cars.

Volpe assigned an attorney to Colbert but told him he would be liable for attorneys’ fees if authorities found later he could afford one.

Volpe acknowledged that it would be difficult for those released on bond to fulfill the court’s requirement of gainful employment because of the “poor economy” in eastern Arkansas.

Instead, he said he would settle for involvement in a structured volunteer program.

Information for this article was contributed by Chad Day, Cathy Frye and John Worthen of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 10/14/2011

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