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Deputy layoffs may force drug unit to disband: 'I don't mean to sound doom and gloom ... but it's not good'

BY LAURA GIRRESCH - News-Democrat

St. Clair County Sheriff's Department Capt. Steve Johnson, head of investigations for the department, has seen a lot of crack houses. But there's one he'll never forget.

It happened a little more than a year ago. Undercover officers with the St. Clair County Drug Tactical Unit had purchased crack cocaine from a dealer in a home near Centreville. The unit, ready with a warrant, moved in hard and quick. A federal parolee was inside, armed with a loaded, semiautomatic pistol.

Three children -- all younger than 5 -- were sleeping on piles of trash, and investigators saw a rat on top of a sleeping baby. The unit confiscated a "substantial amount" of crack, Johnson said. The children were turned over to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, and the parolee went back to prison. No one was injured.

State's attorney changes policy for drug arrests

BY BETH HUNDSDORFER - News-Democrat

If you are arrested for drugs in St. Clair County, you will now immediately face jail and felony charges.

St. Clair County State's Attorney Brendan Kelly will issue charges on police-administered field tests that confirm a suspect substance is a illegal narcotic or if the substance is submitted to the Illinois State Police Crime Lab within three business days.

That's a change. Former State's Attorney Robert Haida did not issue drug charges based on police-administered field tests, because of a number of false positive tests for controlled substances but waited for charges until the crime lab confirm the results.

"Circumstances have changed," Kelly said. "We have to use every legal tool available to get drugs and drug dealers out of our community quickly."

Police: Belleville mom sold kids' Christmas presents for crack

Sandra J. Bauers

UPDATED, 11:45 a.m. with interview with grandmother

ST. CLAIR COUNTY • A Belleville woman is in jail after selling her children's Christmas gifts to buy crack cocaine, police say.

Sandra J. Bauers, 35, is being held on $50,000 bond at the St. Clair County Jail.

Sheriff's Capt. Steven Johnson said Bauers, the mother of two young sons, stole about $1,000 worth of toys and gifts that the children's grandmother bought last week. Bauers then sold the gifts to buy crack, he said.

The children -- two boys, ages 4 and 5 -- were staying with their grandmother, Bauers' mother, who has a restraining order against Bauers.

Belleville raid nets drug dealer, cocaine, cash

Friday, Oct. 29, 2010

News-Democrat

Belleville Police and sheriff's deputies said a raid Wednesday morning at a home in Belleville netted a drug dealer already awaiting trial on drug charges.

Officers at 7 a.m. Wednesday executed a search warrant at 4119 W. Main St. in Belleville, said Lt. Kurt Eversmann, head of the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department Special Operations Unit.

Police recovered cocaine, prescription drugs, cash and a digital scale, Eversmann said.

Allen M. Liddell, 25, who lived in the home, was charged with unlawful possession with intent to deliver. His bail was set at $75,000.

When he was arrested Wednesday, Liddell was already free on bail from a previous charge of unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

Read more: http://www.bnd.com/2010/10/28/1454923/belleville-man-busted-for-drugs.html#ixzz13kwMiYwY

Drug raid in Belleville nets marijuana, cash and pills

News-Democrat

The Belleville/St. Clair County Special Response Team conducted a drug raid early Tuesday morning at an apartment complex in Belleville.

A woman, whose name has not been released pending charges, was arrested during the execution of a search warrant at 316 N. 2nd St., Apt. 9 in Belleville, according to St. Clair County Lt. Kurt Eversman.

The raid was initiated by police around 6:45 a.m. and is the result of a month-long investigation of significant drug activity at the apartment complex. The same apartment complex was raided on a search warrant earlier this year.

Police took into evidence some marijuana, cash and prescription pills from the apartment. No one was injured and the woman was arrested without incident.

Read more: http://www.bnd.com/2010/10/05/1426712/drug-raid-in-belleville-nets-marijuana.html#ixzz11WeQdPfI

'Not business as usual': Police use battering ram in raid that nets known drug dealer

BY CAROLYN P. SMITH

News Democrat

Suspected drug dealers were rounded up and taken to jail after police executed search warrants early Thursday morning in Washington Park.

The first warrant was served at 1223 N. 48th St. Police used battering rams as they entered the home of what they described as a known drug dealer. Tips from anonymous individuals led police to the address. Inside the residence, police found some small children as well as the adult male they were seeking.

Two trucks that transported the Illinois State Police Tactical Response Team sat near the front of the house. A sea of police from the Illinois State Police, the St. Clair County Special Response Team and Belleville police officers surrounded the house.

The unidentified male who police brought out of the house sat handcuffed on the front porch and looked at all of the police officers.

Off to jail in PJ's, off to school during Washington Park drug raids

News-Democrat

A man and woman were taken to jail early Tuesday by drug investigators as a teen at the Washington Park house hoisted his backpack and went off to school.

Officers arrested the man and woman at a house on North 48th Street and then raided a house at 1730 N. 60th St., where two women wearing matching pajama bottoms were arrested along with a man.

The raids were conducted by Washington Park Police along with the St. Clair County Sheriff's Drug Tactical Unit and the Illinois State Police Tactical Response Team.

St. Clair County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Thomas Trice (right) coordinates the investigation while another officer dons communication headphones. - Tim Vizer/BND

Officers had to break down a door at the North 60th Street home and found it reinforced from the inside by a heavy chain.

Charges were pending in the cases.

More photos on page two

Man at courthouse couldn't keep his pot in his pants, police say

BY JENNIFER A. BOWEN - News-Democrat

BELLEVILLE -- An East St. Louis man couldn't keep his pot in his pants at the St. Clair County Building, police said.

It all started when a janitor saw a man hitting and kicking a woman outside Belleville City Hall.

Antywan D. Seawood, 31, of 647 N. 31st St. in East St. Louis, ultimately was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana in connection.

According to the police report, a janitor at the St. Clair County Building heard two people screaming, yelling and cursing at each other and witnessed a woman being hit and kicked by a man outside City Hall.

Law Enforcement Task Force in East St. Louis Making a Difference

 

EAST ST. LOUIS, IL (KTVI - FOX2now.com) - A violent crime task force crack down is paying off in East St. Louis. The task force, called WAVE, "Working Against Violent Elements" is made up of members of the United States Marshal's Service, the East St. Louis Police Department, the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southwestern Illinois (MEGSI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department. WAVE made three more arrests Tuesday night in 800 block of 71st while coming under gunfire; just the latest arrests in a dramatic three month turn-around in East St. Louis crime since WAVE started its work.

Terror in the projects: East St. Louis residents live a life under siege

 

By CAROLYN P. SMITH - News-Democrat

EAST ST. LOUIS -- Being a Mom is challenging enough, but imagine having to warn your kids to get away from the windows during gunfire.

Welcome to East St. Louis.

Some mothers say people are being robbed at gunpoint with regularity for $5, $10, or $20 -- basically all the money they have -- as they leave their residences to walk to a nearby grocery store.

Clusters of gun-wielding young men wearing baggy pants and oversized T-shirts and hoodies crowd the entrances to the complexes and strike fear in many of the residents.

Residents like Kimberly Rosebud say they're pleased that help has come their way.

They said the violence in the East St. Louis area had gotten out of hand and, by itself, the East St. Louis Police Department could not handle the crime.