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'Reverse' drug raid yields 19 arrests

Sheriff Richard Nugent says his office will do more drug busts after so many people were taken into custody on drug charges.

By MICHAEL KRUSE
Published October 4, 2005

BROOKSVILLE - A four-hour undercover operation by the Hernando County Drug Task Force led to 19 arrests Friday night in the area of Twigg Street just south of the city.

It was the first so-called reverse drug sting in about a year, Sheriff Richard Nugent said Monday afternoon, but the unusually high number of arrestees was enough to make him promise a ramped-up antidrug effort.

"We're going to start doing this more regularly," Nugent said. "I could be mistaken, but that's got to be one of the all-time highs. I'm pretty sure it's the highest we've ever had."

And Nugent has been with the Sheriff's Office since 1984.

One of the 19, George B. Kirsey, 18, of Weeki Wachee, was charged with buying marijuana.

Holly G. Fansler, 20, of Spring Hill wanted the painkiller called Percocet, authorities said.

The rest had come for crack cocaine.

From all over the place, too.

From Brooksville: Peggy Ann Joplin, 44; Stephen Scott Mills, 38; William J. Manina, 39; Earl Bentley, 54; Penny Harris, 43; Keith Hoffman, 45, and Paul Francis Jimino, 40.

From Spring Hill: Stephen Jeffery Ogles, 20; William L. Lamb, 44; Rory R. Ryniker, 46, and Petrina Smith, who turns 48 today.

Jason M. Mazey, 31, is from Weeki Wachee.

Grace C. Slaughter, 43, is from Masaryktown.

A handful of the 19 came from out of the county.

From Inverness in Citrus County: Robert J. Cooper, 45, and Wayne P. Walker, 46.

From New Port Richey in Pasco County: 25-year-old Ethan Wallace Bradley.

And Michael D. Hooks, 41, came all the way from St. Petersburg.

All of them allegedly bought from one undercover officer. This particular sort of sting is called a "reverse" because it targets the buyers instead of the sellers.

The buyers were taken to the Hernando County Jail and booked, one after the other after the next, from 2:01 to 5:23 in Saturday's early morning hours.

Bail ranged from $1,000 for the marijuana to $5,000 for the Percocet to $5,000 to $27,000 for the crack cocaine.

The sting lasted from about 7 to a little after 11 Friday night, said sheriff's Deputy Donna Black, spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office. Nugent said approximately 20 deputies contributed, blocking cars from escaping, doing "takedowns" on some of the buyers and transporting them to jail.

Word on the street, apparently, did not spread.

"Their desire for getting drugs is greater than their fear of getting arrested," Nugent said.

That is disconcerting, he added, "because obviously there's still quite a demand out there."

That means more frequent stings in the future.

"Yep," Nugent said. "We'll be doing it on, I don't want to say a regular basis, but a continuing basis."

Said Black, "It's an ongoing effort."

--Michael Kruse can be reached at mkruse@sptimes.com or 352 848-1434.

[Last modified October 4, 2005, 02:15:30]