Agencies unite to catch drug dealers

Area officials, DEA use money obtained for beneficial causes

Drug money paid for new pistols and coloring books for the Aransas Pass Police Department.

And Chief Darrell Jones knows the money will keep coming in because one of his officers is taking down drug dealers all over the region with the Drug Enforcement Administration task force.

Money seized from drug cases is split among the agencies that make up the task force, giving Jones a high amount of $20,000 in June and an average of $4,000 a month.

"It really comes in handy," he said, as he lists what he's bought with the funds - new lights, cameras and radars for police cars, stun guns, bulletproof vests, computer equipment, a leased Harley-Davidson motorcycle, coloring books on stranger danger, and drug and fingerprint ID kits.

The task force isn't just about making money for smaller agencies.

Bill Grant, the resident agent in charge with the DEA office in Corpus Christi, said the task force is about combining resources.

"In today's law enforcement, no agency can do it alone," he said. "This brings the whole group to the fight."

The group includes 10 officers from area agencies - three Corpus Christi police officers, two Nueces County Sheriff's deputies and one representative each from San Patricio, Aransas and Kleberg counties and Aransas Pass and Kingsville - and several DEA agents, and is headquartered in Corpus Christi.

Agents are paid by their supporting county or city, but work cases throughout the Coastal Bend, sometimes following investigations to other areas of the state and nation, Grant said. Inclusion in the group must be approved by DEA and supported by local agencies.

The value of anything seized, including 18-wheelers, cash and drugs, goes through the courts to be released and is then split among the agencies according to who worked the case and how much time each agency spent on the investigation.

If investigations take the group out of the area, and assistance from other law enforcement is needed, that agency may also be included in the share of seized assets.

Jones said he joined the task force for help in attacking a growing drug problem in Aransas Pass.

"We're too small of a department to control that," he said. "With this, we're able to really target that area."

Jones said 29 drug houses have been busted in the two years since he's joined the force and many dealers have been arrested.

"They have the surveillance and people that we don't to make these cases and get these people off the streets," he said.

San Patricio County Sheriff Leroy Moody just signed on to the force last month, citing a need for more assistance in the fight against drugs.

"We're not doing it for the money," he said. "We're doing it for the help. And we'll take the money that we get."

Moody hasn't yet received any funds, and hasn't budgeted for the increase in income.

"We just have to wait and see what they seize and see what we get," he said.

Kingsville benefits from the arrangement by bringing more resources to an area abundant in drug-trafficking.

During the past decade with the task force, Chief Ricardo Torres said he has been able to increase monitoring of the drug network in Kingsville and get more drugs off the streets.

And he's purchased equipment he can't fund through the city's budget, including body armor and sniper weapons.

The Tri-County Task Force, with Nueces, Aransas and San Patricio county representation, lost state funding in March, but several of those deputies were able to switch to the DEA task force. Grant said that was a coincidence of timing as his group had some openings and was looking to expand his network into Aransas and San Patricio counties.

As for future expansion, Grant leaves the option open.

"I would like it to grow," he said. "In my opinion, the more participation the better."

By the numbers

Funds distributed October 2005 to September 2006:


Corpus Christi Police


Kingsville Police


Aransas Pass Police


Nueces County


Kleberg County


Aransas County Sheriff

since February

Source: Drug Enforcement Administration

Contact Beth Wilson at 886-3748

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