Local police credit a citizen’s tip for a recent drug bust that resulted in a Lebanon couple being charged with drug dealing.
But Boone County Sheriff Tony Harris also credited interdepartmental cooperation and commended his Criminal Interdiction Unit, CIU, and the Zionsville Police Department’s Strategically Applied Focused Enforcement, SAFE, unit.
Acting on a tip about drug activity, the CIU and SAFE collaborated to put Kelley Holladay, 30, and Zachary Taylor, 27, under observation and stopped the car she was driving March 30, Zionsville Police Cpt. Drake Sterling said.
The pair behaved quite nervously when Boone County Sheriff’s Deputy Eric Geyer pulled the car over on Interstate 65 in Lebanon, according to a probable cause affidavit.
And a police K9 indicated drugs were in the car, according to court records. Taylor had a bag with 43 grams of methamphetamine and less than a gram of cocaine in his pocket, according to court records. In the car, police found more meth and cocaine, numerous small, clear plastic bags, a small safe that looks like a book, a scale with narcotics residue, and other materials associated with drug sales, according to the affidavit.
Holladay and Taylor each have their own apartments, but he often stayed with her, and in the bedroom they shared, police found more scales, small plastic bags, small amounts of meth and cocaine, and a notebook paper believed to contain a narcotics ledger, according to the affidavit.
Results
One gram of meth amounts to 10 individual uses, and 43 grams would equal 430 individual uses, according to information provided by the Hamilton-Boone County Drug Task Force.
Holladay and Taylor are each charged with dealing in meth, 10 grams or more, a level 2 felony; possession of meth, 28 grams or more, a level 3 felony; dealing in cocaine, a level 5 felony; possession of cocaine, a level 6 felony; and misdemeanor charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of paraphernalia.
Both are tentatively scheduled for August trials.
Mission
SAFE and the CIU often receive citizen tips related to various crimes, including drug activity. Former Boone County Sheriff Mike Nielsen formed the CIU in 2016 to combat a heroin influx into the county.
SAFE fights crime associated with illicit drugs and also may focus on other crime, such as a rash of catalytic converter thefts in a neighborhood or business district, Sterling said. The unit tries to protect and preserve quality of life.
Its officers may work in uniform or plain clothes and conduct surveillance operations, “depending on the type of approach we need to take,” Sterling said.
More involved drug cases are often turned over to the Hamilton-Boone Drug Task Force, but SAFE takes on “lower-level” drug cases and follows informants’ tips, Sterling said.
“The cooperation among all the law enforcement partners in our fight against drugs and those attempting to profit from drug sales will continue,” Harris said. “Our CIU officers and Zionsville’s SAFE have been steadfast in their training regime and have been receiving tips from citizens from across the county … Our message to those in the drug world is that we know who you are and we will be knocking on your door soon.”