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Gene Kennedy ReportingMore than 100 deputies packed their gear overnight and made a huge county-wide drug bust. Early this morning, the deputies scattered across Salt Lake County and simultaneously raided several suspected drug houses.
Six homes were raided in different parts of the county around 4 am. Officers say they found mostly cocaine, but also some heroin, and thousands of dollars in cash. They arrested nine suspects.
Investigators say the people arrested supplied the drugs to dealers, who would sell at area high schools.
Undercover agents bought some 20-thousand dollars worth of drugs before this morning's series of raids. At the sheriff's office this morning, a show and tell display: 11 bags of heroin and cocaine bought since the first of the year.
Sgt. Paul Jaroscsak, Salt Lake Co. Sheriff's Office: "We targeted people we thought could be those low level dealers, the street dealers supplying narcotics to the high school kids."
So investigators followed the trail.
Sgt. Paul Jaroscsak, Salt Lake Co. Sheriff's Office: "We determined that the dealers we were looking at were going to six different locations."
The big bust was shown to a live television audience. The suspects were paraded before the cameras, and then the drugs brought out.
At one location in South Salt Lake, five people were detained, three men and two women. A couple of children were also at the home. They are now in protective custody.
Police have been monitoring the homes for weeks. The investigation started because of recent drug overdoses, particularly fatal overdoses.
Heroin and cocaine are the two drugs that led to overdose deaths of several high-school students in recent months. Among those killed...John Reagan Phillips, Amelia Sorich, and Zachary Martinez.
Their deaths prompted the aggressive crackdown and this message to their families:
Sgt. Paul Jaroscsak, Salt Lake Co. Sheriff's Office: "We want them to know that the Sheriff's office and law enforcement valley wide took these deaths serious."
A researcher with the Utah Department of Health tells us the high-profile overdoses grab a lot of attention, but the number of cocaine and heroin overdoses among young people remains constant. In 2003, 22 Utahns under 25 overdosed on cocaine or heroin. In 2004, that number was 24. And in the first six months of 2005 there were 13.
State statistics also show a slight increase in the use of cocaine and heroin after a half-decade of decline. In 1997, 14% of Utahns admitted to public treatment centers listed cocaine as their primary drug of choice, 11% listed heroin. That number dropped to 8% in 2002. Cocaine use has risen again slightly through 2004-05 and heroin use is up to 10-12%
Narcotics agents say most of the drugs are being trafficked in from Mexico. Many of the people arrested this morning are in the same two families. According to the sheriff's office, two of the nine are illegal aliens, what deputies call "aggravated re-entry."
Sgt. Paul Jaroscsak, Salt Lake Co. Sheriff's Office: "Which means they were here illegally. They were arrested for distributing illegal substances, convicted of that, deported, and now they're back."
Immigration officials are involved in this case and are looking at deporting some of these suspects again.
For those who remain here, investigators say they have enough drugs to file federal charges.
