Police tout 'significant' drug raid
More than six ounces of suspected crack cocaine — enough to fetch $20,000 on the street — was seized Wednesday night in a drug raid at a Butler home, authorities said.
But that was not all.
The Butler County Drug Task Force raid also seized dozens of bags of suspected heroin and 1½ pounds of marijuana that investigators believe came from an indoor grow operation at the same home on the 200 block of West Brady Street.
Officers also confiscated currency and cell phones.
Arrested on trafficking-related and other charges was alleged Detroit-connected drug dealer Anthony W. “Doobie” Shields, 24, of Port Huron, Mich., and Todd A. Moore, 48, who is a tenant at the West Brady street home.
Both are in Butler County Prison and jailed on six-figure bail each.
“This was a significant arrest,” county Detective Tim Fennell, who heads the task force, said Thursday. “It's going to put a dent in the wall of this Detroit crew.”
Fennell suspects Shields is just the latest in a long list of dealers from Detroit who have traveled to Butler over the years.
Moore allowed Shields to use his apartment to sell narcotics, according to authorities. But they believe Moore was responsible for making the grow operation work.
“He was the grower and processor,” Fennell said of Moore.
Authorities said the raid followed a three-week investigation into drug sales at the home. Fennell noted that police made at least two drug buys as part of the probe.
The task force eventually obtained a search warrant, which was served about 9 p.m. City and Butler Township police assisted in the search detail that neither defendant was expecting.
“I think they were pretty surprised,” Fennell said.
Shields was nabbed just as he was leaving the apartment.
“We believe he was going to make a deal,” Fennell said.
Along with Moore, officers found inside two others, both there to use drugs, authorities said.
According to court documents, officers found eight packages of suspected crack, weighing about 180 grams, or nearly 6½ ounces.
“That's a h--- of a lot of crack,” Fennell said.
Shields was caught carrying two smaller bags of crack.
Officers also recovered 32 stamp bags of suspected heroin, $285 and four cell phones from the home.
During the search, Fennell said, police uncovered 24 marijuana plants in various stages of growth.
“Half of them were 4 to 5 feet high,” he said.
A bedroom closet served as the grow room, authorities said. The attic was being used to dry and process the drug.
In all, the confiscated marijuana weighed 1½ pounds.
Officers also turned up grow lights, fans, potting soil, seed starters and other items used in the operation.
Shields and Moore were both arraigned on two counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and one count of conspiracy, all felonies.
Additionally, Moore is charged with manufacturing a controlled substance, also a felony.
Shields and Moore are in the county prison on $150,000 bail and $100,000 bail, respectively.
Phillip A. Campbell, 37, of Butler, who was in the apartment with a syringe, was also placed in the prison on a bench warrant.
Campbell and a woman from Oil City, Venango County, who authorities said was at the home with a crack pipe, will both be charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia in connection with the raid.
