Several drug suspects were taken into custody recently in another Picayune Police Department operation called MARS.

A criminal’s greed is one thing law enforcement agencies can count on, just offer up a television or the promise of money they believe is owed them and all the police have to do is wait for the criminal to come to them.

Picayune Police Chief Jim Luke takes that into consideration when he plans sting operations. About three years ago his department implemented the big screen television giveaway, where suspects with warrants were sent the promise of the prize. When the suspects arrived all they received was a bed in the city jail. Friday the department used a similar tactic, except this time they promised a refund on a fine the suspect had paid.

Luke said he was told by employees at the Home of Grace in Vancleave that the most common drugs Picayune patients go there for are methamphetamine, crack cocaine and prescription pills. To catch those selling the drugs, the sting operation was planed so the drug dealing suspects could be taken into custody in a location that keeps officers, suspects and the suspects’ families safer than a home arrest, Luke said.

“So if we can have them come to us, it is safer and we utilize less personnel because it’s a controlled situation,” Luke said.

Deputy Chief David Ervin said Luke comes up with his sting operation ideas from observing what other departments are doing. Then he adds to them to make them his own.

This time, the department sent a letter informing suspects that they had overpaid a past fine and that an audit service had found the error. The letter requested the suspects to call the number provided in the letter and set up an appointment to collect the money that was supposedly owed to them. When a suspect arrived at the location of the pseudo business named “Mississippi Audit Recovery Services,” or MARS, a few blocks from the police department, the suspect was asked for proper identification and given a check. The suspect would open the envelope containing the check for $1, which also read “You are under arrest”.

One suspect shown in a video the department made of the arrest attempted to put the check back in the envelope as though nothing had happened. He was promptly taken into custody. Another suspect looked as though he was wise to the operation as he entered the storefront and promptly exited the building.

“You see some of them are still a little gun shy because of the Big Screen TV (operation),” Ervin said, as the video of the operation was shown to local media.

Deputy Chief David Ervin said that suspects were taken into custody in the parking lot, off camera.

Another suspect called the number to report he had to work that day, so the department called his employer, a delivery food establishment, and ordered food to be delivered to the pseudo business. Luke said he picked up the bill for the food and used it to feed the officers working the operation.

Suspects who did not show up at the business during the sting were picked up later, Ervin said.

To help keep the operation low key, officers manning the front of the business were from St. Tammany Parish. Luke said cooperation with Slidell Police Chief Freddy Drennan and St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain provided outside officers. This kept suspects from noticing local law enforcement faces as they entered the building. Local officers were stationed in the rear of the building until it was time to take the suspect into custody. Luke said he appreciated the assistance of the outside officers in the sting operation, and Drennan and Strain for lending them to the operation.

Suspects’ names for the sting operation were collected during three months of undercover work, Ervin said.

Arrested during operation MARS were: Evelyn Merrill, 52, of 717 4th St., charged with sale of controlled substance (crack cocaine) within 1,500 feet of a church/school; Tyeshia Charles, 23, of 1500 Bogan Cr., charged with sale of controlled substance (Oxycodone) within 1,500 feet of church/school; Eric Scott, 22, of 315 Country Club Rd., charged with sale of controlled substance (crack cocaine); Berda Ryals, 48, of 107 Willow St., charged with two counts of sale of a controlled substance (crack cocaine); Tonia Ryals, 31, 107 Willow St., charged with sale of controlled substance (crack cocaine); Sandra Klein, 53, of 42 Plantation Oak Dr., charged with sale of controlled substance (OxyContin) within 1,500 feet of church/school; James Trahan, 18, of 79 Lawson Taylor Rd., Carriere, charged with two counts of sale of a controlled substance (ecstasy); Jeffery Rice, 51, of 829 S. Beech St., charged with sale of controlled substance (crack cocaine) within 1,500 feet of church/school; Cathy Mickel, 47, of 104 Kendra Ln., charged with sale of controlled substance (crack cocaine) within 1,500 feet of church/school; Zachary Mathes, 43, 520 E. Second St., charged with sale of controlled substance (crack cocaine) within 1,500 feet of church/school; Shawn Adams, 19, 1404 Alpine Rd., charged with sale of controlled substance (marijuana); Juanita Waller, 38, of 2101 Morris St., charged with sale of controlled substance (crack cocaine) within 1,500 feet of church/school; Lamone Tolliver, 33, of 227 S. Abrams St., charged with sale of controlled substance (crack cocaine) within 1,500 feet of church/school; David Crutchfield, 19, of 440 Liberty Rd., charged with sale of controlled substance (marijuana) within 1,500 feet of church/school, and Robert P. Martin, 45, of 604 Richards St., charged with sale of controlled substance (heroin) within 1,500 feet of church/school.