Thursday, April 9, 1998 | 10:09 a.m.
Business owners and residents along a crime-plagued stretch of Stewart Avenue are breathing a bit easier today after a four-day drug sting ended with Metro Police slapping 14 people with felony charges.
They called it "Operation Pink Slip" -- a concerted effort between narcotics, patrol and bike officers from the Downtown Area Command to rid drugs and thugs from the area between 11th and 14th streets.
"We thought it was time to put these people out of business," said narcotics Lt. Steve Gammell.
And from the looks of videotaped surveillance that Metro shared with the media Wednesday afternoon, the neighborhood was a pusher's paradise.
Transaction after transaction went down in mere seconds, some film clips showing dealers selling to actual customers. Most of the footage, however, documented a steady stream of transactions undercover narcotics officers made with any hand that could pop out dope.
And sometimes the drugs popped out of mouths -- the most popular hiding place for the pebble-sized pieces of rock cocaine that sell for about $20 apiece.
"If they get stopped, they just swallow the stuff," said Sgt. Keith Carter, seconds before pointing out on the video a kid on a bike who bought what appeared to be drugs from someone on the street, put the drugs in his mouth and pulled them out seconds later to sell to a girl at a pay phone 10 yards away. She then stashed the stuff in her mouth.
The first three days of the operation saw undercover narcotics officers buy drugs from a total of 20 people and leave the area.
Moments later, surveillance officers watching from a distance would direct bike and patrol officers to a dealer's location, where police would make a routine stop and question the individual. Gammell said the suspects permitted police to take Polaroids of them.
On Wednesday, officers returned to the area with warrants and tracked down 14 of the 20 alleged dealers. By operation's end, police logged into the evidence vault 42 grams of rock cocaine, $1,500 in cash and one gun.
Facing a combined total of 50 felony charges are Mary Gonzalez, 37; Marcos Antonio Chavarria, 34; James Harrison, 38; Juan Garcia, 34; Chris Paige, 40; Donald Monroe, 31; Ronald Diggs, 30; Deanette Penn, 37; Mark Johnson (no age given); Roberto Hernandez, 28; Luis Chavez, 18; Samuel Chavez, 23; William Arellano, 26; Arturo Puente, 25; Salvador Hernandez, 18; Thomas Pearson, 42; Glenn Norris, 48; and an unidentified male believed to be 30-35 years old.
It wasn't the biggest haul the narcotics unit has made, but police insist it was a success.
"These people represent a large criminal element in our community," Gammell said. "Their cumulative rap sheets total more than 600 arrests over the last few years, the majority of which have been for nuisance charges, loitering, narcotics violations, prostitution. They are all unemployed by choice. They are not your everyday citizen trying to make a living."
"It's great," Dr. Avi Almeida said of the drug sweep. "I see so much trouble down here all the time. Drugs, alcohol, everything."
Almeida is director of the Erma L. O'Neal Community Services Center and Arturo Cambeiro Senior Center, both off Stewart and 13th, and has made his share of calls to police for help.
He's found vagrants and drug dealers sleeping atop the centers' roofs at night and camping out on the lawns. They've urinated, defecated and trashed the the grounds Almeida tries to keep pleasant and appealing for the public.
The centers served 6,087 people in 1997 alone, among them more than 400 children who attend their preschool and day-care programs. They also assist with job placement and HIV/AIDS prevention and care.
Last summer, the center tore down a cement wall around its front patio where thugs used to do their business and replaced it with a wrought iron fence -- a move to increase Metro's visibility of the property, Almeida said.
One Stewart Avenue store owner was pleased when he heard about Wednesday's arrests. He attributes the robberies his store has suffered and the muggings in the area to drug dealers and addicts.
"It's gotten so bad around here in the last few years," he said, requesting anonymity. "There would be 15 or 20 of them at a time on the street selling drugs. Cars would pull up in the parking lot, they'd be exchanging money and drugs all day long. Customers would come in telling me they were scared, that the dealers were trying to sell them stuff."
Michael Knight said it was oddly quiet Wednesday when he stopped in to buy a soda at the 7-Eleven convenience store on 13th and Stewart where he used to work. Hearing about Metro's morning bust made him smile.
"The police have been doing an incredible job down here," Knight said. "Customers aren't afraid anymore to walk 30 yards across the parking lot from the gas pumps to come inside the store."
Knight said that, over the years, police have been responding more quickly to calls for help, boosting the community's confidence in believing it can take back the neighborhood.
"The fact that Metro didn't get a huge amount of drugs (during the sting) doesn't matter. The impact of what Metro does is reflected in the quality of life around here. When Metro's presence is known, the residents and business owners feel safer and the (criminals and vagrants) scatter like roaches."
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