Four men believed to be apart of the Crips Street Gang are now behind bars after what the Lubbock County Sheriff, Kelly Rowe, is deeming a “successful” end to a year-long narcotics investigation.
On Tuesday, October 04, members of the Lubbock Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Division, Lubbock Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team, Homeland Security Investigations, Drug Enforcement Administration, Texas Department of Public Safety Aviation Division and the Lubbock Police Department SWAT Team executed five narcotics search warrants.
“When we can get after the major trafficker we can interrupt their capability to get those products delivered to individuals who want to by them and that’s a big success,” said Sheriff Rowe.
Four suspects were taken into custody and are being detained on a federal hold in the Lubbock County Detention Center. They are identified as William Spence (27), Jasmine Spence (28), Dequan Willard (21) and Antonio Montgomery (21).
Two kilograms of cocaine was recovered along with three firearms, one of which was reported stolen. $37,799 in United States currency was seized along with 6 vehicles.
Rowe said that in addition to methamphetamine and heroin, cocaine ranks as one of the top three most desired drugs in Lubbock among dealers and users.
“The increases in cocaine, crystal methamphetamine from 2014 to present, in some cases has been as high as 800%,” said Rowe. “We have a lot of consumers, it’s supply and demand, and I hate to put it on those types of terms, but it’s become very lucrative for those types of traffickers out there to get their product here and get it sold.”
While there is still plenty of work to be done in keeping drugs and gangs off the streets, Law Enforcement wants to ensure the community that Lubbock is a safe place to live.
“We always want to stress, Lubbock is a very safe place to live safe place to raise your family. You have a lot of dedicated law enforcement as all these agencies have been mentioned to make sure that that stays the case.”