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Pocono News Section
Major Drug Bust Nabs 19 People in Lackawanna County
Major Drug Bust Nabs 19 People in Lackawanna County - Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 5:13PM EST
Reported by: Eric Deabill
Thursday, Feb 11, 2010 @ 05:13pm EST
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY - The Pennsylvania Attorney General's office says they've busted up one of the biggest drug rings in the history of Lackawanna County. It's being called Operation Rewind and it involved nearly three million dollars of cocaine and marijuana.
A total of 19 suspects were taken into custody Thursday. Many of the suspects are from Scranton. Others are from Olyphant, Dickson City and Carbondale.
Officials say Robert Larkin of New Jersey was the ringleader. He allegedly supplied two locals, Rafael Rios and Angela Rosado with all the drugs. They then gave the drugs to 16 other people to allegedly sell.
Over the course of the last year, state officials had to get a total of nine different wiretaps just to figure out who was involved in the drug ring.
According to court papers, Rafael Rios lived in an apartment at 1026 Clay Avenue in Scranton. David Yoter lives in the same building.
"It's shocking because I didn't know he was a dealer," Yoter said. "I don't know nothing about him."
Other neighbors say they suspected problems and they're not surprised at the investigation.
"No, I'm not surprised. To me, this area is a heavy drug dealing area, really, you'd be surprised at all the cars," neighbor Chalotte Ledbetter said. "They're always parked over here. They're parked down there and they walk up here, you know something is going on."
Neighbors say they're happy to hear about the drug bust. They're glad the community is getting cleaned up and the streets are being made safer.
"I've seen a lot of them out here with drugs. They smoke right out in front, urinate out there on the trees and it's just terrible," Ledbetter said.
All of the drug suspects were arraigned this afternoon at the Lackawanna County courthouse. State officials say more arrests are expected. | | |
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