By WSAZ News Staff and Brendan Tierney
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – The Charleston Police Department made 72 arrests in a three-day warrant sweep. Chief Tyke Hunt said it was the department’s most successful warrant sweep in more than 20 years.
The effort, called Operation Delta 146, looked to honor fallen Patrolman Cassie Johnson. She was shot and killed in the line of duty in December.
Hunt said one of the arrests was Jonson’s final case. Johnson worked to obtained a warrant for Terrance Ramsey to be charged with distribution of fentanyl by taking evidence to the U.S. Attorney. He was the first person arrested in the sweep and will be Johnson’s final case in the federal court system.
“She was able to get enough in the case to get the indictment that lead to the arrest warrant, but the person was not apprehended yet,” Hunt said. “The US Marshal’s Office, DEA, ATF, all of our federal partners here today made that arrest a priority. That arrest was the first arrest of the three day warrant sweep that we did. It was a very meaningful arrest to know we can further her work, even though she is gone.”
US Marshal Michael Baylous approached Hunt with the idea for the operation the week after Johnson’s funeral. He said it would be a way to honor her while cleaning up the streets she grew up on and worked to protect. Johnson worked on Delta shift and her unit number was 146, which gave the operation its name.
“It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck,” Hunt said. “I was very excited to see the way we continue to honor our fallen hero.”
In addition to the 72 arrests, police seized 38 guns and eight pounds of drugs, including six pounds of fentanyl and two pounds of marjiuana. A significant amount of money was also seized. Hunt said they took some extremely dangerous people off the streets, including a murder suspect.
“This operation will be long since felt after today,” Hunt said. “And to know that this type of success, that the efforts of everyone banding together in Cassie’s name, and to know that it will be felt throughout Charleston means so much to me and all of the officers here at the Charleston Police Department.”
Other agencies involved include police departments from Princeton, Ironton, Barboursville, Ravenswood and Beckley. Sheriff’s deputies from Cabell, Kanawha, Putnam, Roane, Jackson, Mercer, Wyoming and Raleigh counties also helped. The WVDRC Parole, West Virginia State Police, AFT and DEA also offered support as well.
Seventy-two arrests were made, and 29 of those were federal warrants while 43 were state/local warrants. Not all arrest information could be released, due to ongoing investigations, but the following people have been taken into custody as part of Operation Delta 146:
Robert Brown (prohibited person from possession a firearm), Christopher Dowling (strangulation), Edsel Garretson (strangulation, domestic battery), Mauricio Govea (possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance), Matthew Greene (possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance), Danny Greene (possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance), Clarence Haley (first-degree murder), William Hammonds (child neglect causing injury), Dewayne Hess (burglary), Antonio Jacobs (malicious wounding), Brandon Kessell (malicious wounding), James Bradley Cory McConihay (possession with intent to deliver meth, prohibited person in possession of a firearm), Gregory Mitchell (first-degree robbery), Charles Moore (possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance), Chidi Anthony Oakafor (third-degree sexual assault), Christopher Parson (burglary), Adrian Patterson (possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance), Jameson Payne (burglary, wanton endangerment), Douglas Reeves (strangulation), Gabriel Tackett (burglary), Anthony Michael Thorne (possession with intent fentanyl), Michelle White (persons prohibited from possession firearms), Bobby Ray Williams (possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance), Anthony Thorne (possession with intent fentanayl), Jameson Payne (nurglary, wanton endangerment).
To view the original post, click here.
