 Nichols said the indictments came Friday morning after State's
Attorney Jonathan Wright and Assistant State's Attorney Bradley M.
Hauge presented evidence to a grand jury on behalf of the sheriff's
office.The first two people were apprehended Friday night.
Nichols said those two were at hand on another matter and taken in,
but the sheriff's office did a complete sweep on Monday morning and
apprehended 14 more.
During Nichols' conversation with media Monday morning, he was
notified that yet another of the 19 had been picked up. He had just
finished saying that the last three would be more difficult to
capture because they were now tipped off that the hunt was taking
place.
However, he noted that even though it would be more difficult, he
was confident that they would all be arrested in the immediate
future.
On Monday afternoon, he notified media that No. 17 was in
custody, so only two are still at large.
Nichols said the charges filed against these people will be
according to statute, which words the charges as manufacture and
delivery of a controlled substance, but the majority of these people
were dealers, selling drugs to people in Lincoln and Logan County.
Nichols said this is the culmination of detective work and
evidence gathering that has been ongoing for the past 60 to 90 days.
He praised his staff. "We did a lot of work. Deputies came in
off-shift. My detectives, Chief Deputy Bunner and I, we were all out
there doing what we had to do," he said.
Nichols said he also wanted to thank Wright and Hauge for helping
them out on Monday in the roundup.
For publication, Nichols provided a list of names and mug shots
of those who are currently in custody. He also noted that all
individuals are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court
of law.
[to top of second column] |
Those who were in custody as of 5 p.m. Monday are:
-
Regina A. Richmond,
female, black
-
Dionte D. Taylor,
male, black
-
Wendy J. Helton,
female, white
-
Miranda D. Reynolds,
female, white
-
Elizabeth A. Coatney,
female, white
-
Karmalisha Duncan,
female, black
-
Timothy A. Ballard,
male, white
-
Tonya Ballard,
female, white
-
Gerald L. Thomas,
male, black
-
Trevonte Darrell
Pratt, male, black
-
Curtis L. Kelly,
male, black (in custody in Sangamon County)
-
Damone M. Stewart,
male, black
-
Brad W. Parker, male,
white
-
Justin T. Babbitt,
male, white
-
Billy R. Trail Jr.,
male, white
-
John Beck, male,
white
-
Natasha Lee, female, white
Nichols said that the state's attorney's office has requested
that names of suspects not be released until they are in custody, so
he will keep the public informed as additional arrests are made.
Asked if these were repeat offenders, Nichols said, "Let's just
say we are familiar with all of them and leave it at that."
Asked if this group was the lion's share of drug dealers in
Lincoln, Nichols responded: "We're going to quiet Lincoln down for
quite a while. I'm not saying we have cleared it up by any means. We
know who others are and we know what they do, and we're not going to
quit."
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