Ten Arrested In Sullivan County Drug Sting
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Sullivan County Drug Investigation
Sullivan County Drug Investigation
Associated Press Graphic
Mac McLean/ Bristol Herald Courier and Heather Seay/ TriCities.com contributed to this article.
Published: June 2, 2009
Updated: June 2, 2009
Brothers Michael Potter and Stephen Hillard were the subjects of a year-long investigation into the distribution of marijuana, cocaine and hydrocodone in the Tri-Cities area.
Today, a total of ten people are facing a total of 58 drug charges for their involvement in what Sullivan County Sheriff Wayne Anderson described this morning as a local ring of mid-level drug dealers under investigation for several months.
Anderson said the ring was led by half brothers Stephen Hillard, of Bluff City, Tenn., and Michael Potter, of Elizabethton, Tenn. The Sheriff’s Office learned about the operation after Bristol, Va., police pulled Potter over in a traffic stop in January and found him with 10 ounces of marijuana, Anderson said during a news conference.
“They’ve been selling drugs for a long time,” Anderson said of the brothers.
A county grand jury recently handed down the indictments, which include charges ranging from possession of cocaine and hydrocodone to conspiracy to deliver 10 pounds of marijuana. More charges are expected to be presented to the Sullivan County and Carter County Grand Juries at a later date.
Below is a list of those who were charged in the investigation and the charges placed, for photos, click on their name.
April Barber aka April Smith, 710 VI Ranch Rd. Bristol, Tenn.
CHARGES: Possession of Cocaine for Resale, Possession of Marijuana for Resale, Possession of Hydrocodone for Resale, Maintaining a Dwelling where Narcotics are Sold and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
Brian Scott Smith, 710 VI Ranch Rd. Bristol, Tenn.
CHARGES: Possession of Cocaine for Resale,Possession of Marijuana for Resale,Possession of Hydrocodone for Resale, Maintaining a Dwelling where Narcotics are Sold and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
Joshua Carl Posey, 732 Saxon Mattox Rd. Carlton Ga.
CHARGES: Possession of Hydrocodone for Resale, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
Eric Walter Eads aka Rocko, 143 Valley Pike Rd. Bristol Tenn.
CHARGES: Two counts of Sale and Delivery of Cocaine
Michael Potter, 114 Davis Hollow Rd. Apartment 6 Elizabethton, Tenn.
CHARGES: Four Counts of Sale and Delivery of Marijuana, Four Counts of Sale and Delivery of Cocaine, Conspiracy to Deliver over ½ a gram of Cocaine, Conspiracy to Deliver over 10 lbs of Marijuana, Other charges pending in Washington County, Va. and Carter County Tenn.
Robert Wayne Frazier, 400 Turner Rd. Kingsport Tenn.
CHARGES: Four Counts of Sale and Delivery of Marijuana, Four Counts of Sale and Delivery of Cocaine, Conspiracy to Deliver over ½ a gram of Cocaine, Conspiracy to Deliver over 10 lbs of Marijuana, Maintaining a Dwelling where Narcotics are Sold
Stephen Cleveland, 330 Godsey Rd. Apartment 42 Bristol Tenn.
CHARGES: Possession of over 10 lbs of marijuana for Resale, Two counts of sale and delivery of Marijuana, Sale and Delivery of Cocaine
Steven Alan Hillard, 1168 Weaver Branch Rd. Bluff City Tenn.
CHARGES: Conspiracy to Deliver over 10 lbs of Marijuana, Sale of over ½ ounce of Marijuana, Sale of over ½ ounce of Marijuana, Delivery of over ½ ounce of Marijuana, Delivery of over ½ ounce of Marijuana
Tracy McClellan Potter, 710 Ethel Beard Rd. Blountville Tenn.
CHARGES: . Conspiracy to Deliver over 10 lbs of Marijuana, Sale of over ½ ounce of Marijuana, Sale of over ½ ounce of Marijuana, Sale of over ½ ounce of Marijuana, Sale of over ½ ounce of Marijuana, Delivery of over ½ ounce of Marijuana, Delivery of over ½ ounce of Marijuana, Delivery of over ½ ounce of Marijuana, Delivery of over ½ ounce of Marijuana
Jimmy L. Rogers, 301 Cypress St. Bristol, Tenn.
CHARGES: Conspiracy to Deliver over 10 lbs of Marijuana, Sale of over ½ ounce of Marijuana, Sale of over ½ ounce of Marijuana, Delivery of over ½ ounce of Marijuana, Delivery of over ½ ounce of Marijuana
During the investigation, officers executed three search warrants at 330 Godsey Rd. Bristol, Tennessee, 524 Buncombe Rd. Blountville, Tennessee and 710 VI Ranch Rd. Bristol, Tennessee.
Officers also made numerous controlled purchases of cocaine and marijuana from the suspects during the investigation.
They seized more than 6,500 grams of marijuana, 100 grams of cocaine, 1000 hydrocodone pills, more than $6700.00 in cash and four vehicles in the investigation.
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Reader Reactions
Also this about Wayne Anderson,after a year long investigation you could only catch these people with 10 pounds of pot,a hand full of pills,and 50 dollars worth of coke?Sounds like these boys wasn’t doing to good getting rid of there product or that the County was over charged in the man hours it cost the tax payers here.
Evaningstar,I don’t know about you.I see allot of comments from you on different articles and everyone it seems as though you have no set point of values.Your commentary only goes against what everyone discussed to stir up emotions.I believe your here to make people argue. Instead of being so closed minded why not open your mind and hear what people are trying to say instead of this get rid of everyone you don’t feel you have something in common with.And yes there is something there in the New Testament about how many times are you are to forgive your brother,I want someone else to answer this.I will give them a hint,this passage is in the first four books of the New Testament.We have to many closed minded people on this world and that is why it seems that nothing is changing at times.This will be the last time I will address you though Evaning Star,I find you full of hateful,negative and closed minded thoughts with no room for any answer on any matter you address.Peace be with you,and to others that stated that we should think about legalization,I agree.After a while our prisons will run full and our biggest industry will be the Prison industry,that sounds allot like Communism to me.
They might clip some every once in a while…but don’t we already have a drug problem in our institutions?
At least they would have a job, produce enormous profits and tax wind falls, the farmers would get paid, and law enforcement would have the time to pursue real criminal activity.
In a few seasons we could have a true budding industry right here in our area.
They could even sponsor races at Bristol..the Smokey 125 followed by the Rasta Mon…no the Appalachian Mon 500!
Have the people incarcerated for pot grow it? That’s cruel and unusual punishment. Wouldn’t they be high all the time?
How many East Tennesseans does it take to sell ten pounds of weed? Apparently six…..five to hold a one pound bag in each hand and one to count them all on his fingers. Note to self, don’t begin the counting in broad day light…
These geniuses need rehab and an education….if I were the judge, I’d enroll them all at VHS and make them go through the IB program.
Maybe after graduation they would have enough sense to know that anyone trying to buy 10 pounds of weed in this area is probably an affiliate of some sort of law enforcement.
I tend to agree with BILL38 that one of these days we’re not going to be able to afford to send every person under the age of 30 that smokes weed to spend a few years in our penal hospitality suites.
We have done a bang up job stopping the flow of drugs from every corner of the globe so far…Billions of dollars and a few million people behind bars sure has slowed the drug trade down around here…
Here’s a novel idea…LEGALIZE IT..make the people now serving time provide the labor and expertise to produce it on gov’t leased farms located everywhere we used to grow tobacco. Tax the sale and distribution of it and use the proceeds to fund rehab and education.
There seems to be a lot of opinions that are not exactly correct. Yes there is a HUGE drug problem in East Tennessee. It is epidemic levels. But there are legitimate people who have legitimate reasons for having to take pain medication: cancer patients, individuals with chronic conditions, etc. AND these patients are instructed to LOCK UP their medicines and not TELL anyone they are on them. If these individuals follow the guidelines given, they would never have to worry about their medicine being taken/stolen. It’s not the physicians that are causing this. Mainly it seems that there are people going to emergency rooms and going to “cerrtain” physicians faking illness’ and getting medicine they do not need. Sometimes, there are older people that are loaded with medicines in medicine cabinets that do not keep track of them. There is a plethora of causes. It’s sad that it has come to this.
Not that I promote poisoning drug users or anything. I just meant you kind of need the cops.
Hey Evaningstar, here’s a question for you. In your world of high punishment, what do you do when all the chain gangs are full, when you can’t hold anymore prisoners at the jail, prison? Build more? Who is going to watch over these inmates and pay for the food and electricity. Remember there will be thousands more each year, because everyone has to go to jail and stay there for a long time. Oops, now your nephew just got busted and he has to go too, but it is hard for him to go dig train tracks because he just got gang raped back in the bunkhouse. Still think it is a good idea?
I think that forgiveness is wonderful, but the solution lies more in the agressive arrest of all peoples using controlled substances. Want to have pot be legal and sold at the Mini-Mart? Elect officials that will support your wishes. I think that there should be more sting operations and patrols of the housing areas that this kind of stuff works out of. If you see it happening and want to stop it, video tape it and take it to the city council meeting. that should work if the cops ignore you. Or I guess you could stand out on the corner and sell rat poison mixed with baby powder until someone shot you.
If you want to quote scripture bill, it also says an eye for an eye, if biblical is the way you want to go then maybe we should just stone them. That is what they would have done.
The way you talk you want the world to just keep sitting beside these dealers that are getting our kids hooked on drugs, people that are buying drugs instead of feeding their children, people that are robbing and killing people to buy drugs and just hold their hands and tell them everything is going to be o.k. because we love you and the Bible tells us to forgive you no matter what you have done and no matter how many times you have done it. That is the craziest thing I have ever heard and I dont’ believe for one minute that the Bible would instruct us to do so. We live in a somewhat civilized world where there are laws and a way of living that we MUST protect. We cannot just let people commit crimes and just say..“well honey, that’s o.k., I forgive you”. It is no different than raising a child and allowing bad behavior to continue without consequences…the behavior gets worse.
As far as I am concerned after someone has been given a second chance and they do it a third time we should take some money and purchase an island and put them all there and just let them do whatever to each other. I am sick of the panty waste way we deal with crime in this country. It is narrow minded softies like you that have created the repeat situations that we have. If we go back to chain gangs and having to actually have it hard in prison it would help. A criminal in jail/prison should not be able to watch cable, the only tv they should get is news once per day, they should not have pool tables and rec rooms. Prisoners should have an 8 x 8 cell with a cot and a pot and get three crappy meals a day. They should spend at least 8 hours per day working manual labor if physically able such as cutting the grass, digging ditches or moving rock. They are prisoners, not guests at a hotel.
The passage actually says,“Ye generation of Vipers”.But I try to bite my own tongue at times.I wish this country free of drugs too but what I see is “redneck justice” instead of actual justice around here.
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