LEXINGTON — Carloads of narcotics agents pulled quickly into the driveway and began running up a hill toward Odessa Williams, shouting for him to get on the ground.
It was about 7:45 a.m. Wednesday on Cemetery Street in Lexington, and Williams was standing in his front lawn.
He hesitated initially but lay down when an officer pointed his gun at him. They found a handgun on Williams and arrested him on a warrant for sale of crack cocaine.
He was one of 14 Holmes County residents who received an unpleasant morning visit from the North Central Narcotics Task Force during a drug roundup called “Operation Blindside.”
Chuck Harris, director of the task force, said they recovered illegal firearms, cocaine, marijuana, prescription drugs, six vehicles and cash. Warrants were served for sale of cocaine, sale of marijuana, sale of heroin and sale of prescription narcotics, Harris said.
Williams’ arrest was particularly noteworthy because he’s suing Carroll County deputies for shooting into his car last year.
That night he had been sitting along a rural highway in Holmes County near the Carroll County line with another car driven by Albert Coffee. Carroll County deputies, who had earlier chased a car that had evaded a roadblock into Holmes County, came upon the two men. Exactly what happened is disputed, but Williams’ car ended up being shot several times, and he fled into the woods.
A $5 million federal lawsuit filed by Williams and his wife, Mary, has been consolidated with a $3 million lawsuit by Coffee in U.S. District Court. A criminal trial for the two deputies, John Beck and Curtis Alford, is scheduled to be held in Holmes County this fall. They face charges of aggravated assault, shooting into a vehicle, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and kidnapping.
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A long day for about 20 law enforcement officers began at 4 a.m. Wednesday with a briefing outside Lexington. It wouldn’t end until about 10 p.m.
The Narcotics Task Force covers nine counties — Leflore, Grenada, Humphreys, Holmes, Covington, Jefferson, Claiborne, Issaquena and Sharkey — and one city, Collins.
The officers present Wednesday are members of the task force’s Special Response Team, a group of Mississippi deputies and police officers, many of whom volunteer to participate in the drug operations during their time off. Some drove up from Port Gibson, which is about 30 miles south of Vicksburg, early Wednesday morning.
Four reporters rode along as well as MedStat EMTs in case something went wrong.
About four times per year, task force agents do drug-buying operations in a certain community, followed by raids once warrants are obtained. Last year they did such roundups in Leflore, Humphreys and Jefferson counties; it was Holmes’ turn Wednesday.
“We’re targeting the most violent street-level offenders that are involved in narcotics trafficking,” Harris said. “The ones breaking into homes, the ones doing shootings, the ones terrorizing your neighborhoods.”
It’s an uphill battle, especially in Holmes County. It’s one of America’s poorest counties, and it has a strongly entrenched drug culture.
Feeble-looking grandmothers give officers grief about making arrests, and large crowds of girlfriends gather in front of the jail before suspects have been processed to bond them out. After the arrests are made, it’s difficult to get indictments because of the many family connections, multiple law enforcement officers said.
Many of the warrants served were at decrepit-looking mobile homes. At one trailer on Cemetery Street in Lexington, officers were surprised to find a rooster living inside, as well as cockroaches in a bed and a smell so horrible it took their breath.
They had kicked in the door after a suspect, Kendrick Falls, ran outside and then back in trying to escape. They found him hiding in the bed with his grandmother, which Lt. Charles Washington of the Holmes County Sheriff’s Department chastised Falls for as he led Falls away in handcuffs. Falls was charged with sale of marijuana.
In Tchula, agents served a search warrant at an old mobile home on Front Street before dawn. They hauled out three bleary-eyed young men, whom a TV reporter from WLBT in Jackson peppered with questions as they exited. The man they were looking for, Adrian Brown, wasn’t inside, but a woman told them he was at a nearby trailer.
Officers found him there and arrested him. Dogs from the K9 unit at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman sniffed through the home searching for drugs.
Agents made other stops in Durant, Goodman, Pickens and other small communities; some of the suspects weren’t home at first but were picked up later. Harris said they’re still looking for four people.
At about 11 in the morning, agents gathered at an apartment complex in Durant. They were looking for Latrice Biffle. She wasn’t home, but they got a tip she would be dropped off soon at a nearby store. Two officers in an unmarked vehicle went there and waited for her. They spotted a van dropping her off, and Biffle walked with two others to a truck and got in. Officers followed the truck to the apartments, where others were waiting to arrest her.
Biffle said she had no idea what the charge against her was. When told it was for sale of a controlled substance, she said it was an old case from five years ago that had been dismissed. She loudly proclaimed her total innocence.
• Contact Charlie Smith at 581-7235 or csmith@gwcommonwealth.com.
