Early Thursday morning officers from several departments teamed up with the Picayune Police Department to arrest suspected drug dealers.
Picayune Police Department Chief Bryan Dawsey said the operation was a continuation of the city’s war on drugs in an effort to eliminate the drug problem. He said that effort was conducted through the working relationship with the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department, Mississippi Department of Corrections, Department of Homeland Security and the Poplarville Police Department.
“We’re going to continue the fight,” Dawsey said.
Picayune Police Department Assistant Chief Jeremy Magri said the department conducted investigations over the past three months to build evidence to conduct Thursday’s operation.
When the officers set out before daylight that morning they had a list of 18 names, all with warrants for drug related charges. The charges ranged from the illegal sale of drugs such as marijuana, prescription medication, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, ecstasy and molly. A warrant was also issued for one suspect on the charge of uttering forgery, Magri said.
By that afternoon a total of 11 suspects had been arrested, 10 of which were on the initial list. Magri said an unexpected arrest occurred when they attempted to serve a warrant on one of the suspects who was not home, but came across other violations that led to the arrest of 36-year-old Vandell McGill of 1910 East Canal St.
Magri said that while the officers served the warrant at that home, McGill was found to be in possession of several bags of a green leafy substance believed to be marijuana and three guns, one of which was determined to have been stolen. McGill was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a stolen firearm and possession of a controlled substance, Magri said.
Other suspects arrested in the operation include 34-year-old Jessie Burnett of 930 Clover Circle for sale of a counterfeit substance within 1,500 feet of a school or church; 37-year-old Staci Dillard of 33 Easy St., for felony possession of a controlled substance; 55-year-old Jeanette Rancifer of 107 Taylor St. for sale of a controlled substance within 1,500 feet of a school or church; 20-year-old Curtis Grant of 2605 Nina Dr., for conspiracy to sell a controlled substance within 1,500 feet of a school or church; 37-year-old Abasi Bolden of 2316 Mark St., for three counts of sale of a controlled substance within 1,500 feet of a school or church; 17-year-old Newton Knight of 56 Shorty Burgess Rd., for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute while in possession of a firearm; 22-year-old Corey Cooper of 620 Richard St., for sale of a controlled substance within 1,500 feet of a school or church; 41-year-old Lamone Toliver of 599 Carroll St., for two counts of sale of a controlled substance within 1,500 feet of a school or church; 33-year-old Calvin Simmons of 722 Third St., for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute within 1,500 feet of a school or church and 28-year-old Mark Wood of 715 S. Haugh Ave., for sale of a controlled substance within 1,500 feet of a school or church.
The department is still seeking eight suspects.