Fifteen adults and a juvenile were arrested in Bunnell and Palm Coast Wednesday in on drug charges in a sweep by the Flagler County and St. John’s Sheriff’s offices and the Bunnell Police Department.
The sweep included search warrants at four residences, where a total of $5,000 in cash, 117 grams of crack cocaine, 7.5 grams of marijuana, and 71 prescription drug pills were seized. Another $1,000 was found on a suspect–Dwayne Jenkins of 609 South Bacher Street in Bunnell–arrested at a traffic stop, who became part of the sweep. The estimated street value of the drugs is approximately $10,000, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The majority of those arrested were at the four houses searched.
The search warrants were served at at 301 East Booe Street, Apt. 3 and Apt. 8, at 310 South Anderson Street, and at 302 East Drain Street.
The arrests were the result of numerous undercover operations in the previous weeks, as with what led to the arrest of, for example, Cecil Hubbert Jr., 44, of 44 South Bacher Street in Bunnell.
In mid-November, a sheriff’s confidential source met with a detective and a deputy at an undisclosed location to arrange a drug buy–$40 worth of crack from a man who was alleged to be selling the stuff from apartments at 300 East Booe Street. The two cops searched the confidential source’s vehicle for drugs or contraband before giving him $40- to but the crack. Later that afternoon, the source made contact with Hubbert, who walked up to the source’s car window.
about half an hour after having arranged the buy as directed by the detective and the deputy, the confidential source then returned to the cops at a pre-determined location, handed over the suspected crack and wrote a sworn statement about the transaction after the car was searched again. The substance, about 0.2 grams’ worth, tested positive for cocaine. On Dec. 9, County Judge Melissa Moore-Stens signed an arrest warrant for Hubbert on a charge of selling cocaine within 1,000 feet of a public park. Hubbert is now at the county jail on $100,000 bond, though his charge, as it appears on his booking page today, is sale of hydropmorphone, a prescription drug. That appears to be an error, as his arrest warrant listed on the jail site matches the one on his arrest affidavit for cocaine sale.
Since 2008, Hubbert has been booked at the jail 20 times, or an average of almost three times a year. Of his four arrests this year, two were on drug charges and two on battery charges.
The arrest of Chauncey McCray, a 17-year-old resident of 512 South Chapel Street known as “Slick,” followed the same pattern, with two cops arranging a controlled buy of oxycodone, the pain pill, with a confidential source. That one took place on Nov. 24 as the source drove around in his car in South Bunnell, finally dropping off McCray on South Chapel Street. An arrest warrant was issued Dec. 9 on a first-degree felony charge of selling a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a public housing authority.
The Sheriff’s Office was seeking 23 individuals following an investigation of three to four months, Sheriff Jim Manfre said. “This operation, like others
we’ve had, is designed to make our community safer for the holiday season,” he said. The operation was dubbed “Home for the Holidays.”
No shots were fired, there were no reports of anyone resisting, and no injuries, Paula Priester, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, said.
Following are 14 of the individuals arrested today, according to the Sheriff’s Office:
David Myers, 56, of 2249 Hazelnut Street in Bunnell, charged with sale and possession of crack cocaine. He was last arrested arrested on Nov. 7 on two counts of cocaine sale and posted bail on $20,000 bond. He was also arrested in September on a charge of cocaine possession with intent to distribute.
Hiawassee Watson, 24, of 304 South Anderson Street in Bunnell, charged with possession and sale of a counterfeit drug. He is being held on $10,000 bond. He’s been arrested 10 previous times since 2007 on a variety of charges including domestic battery, aggravated assault and false imprisonment.
Cecil Hubbert, 44, of 44 Bacher Street in Bunnell, charged with sale of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a park, held on $100,000 bond.
Chauncey McRay, 17, 512 South Chapel Street, Bunnell, charged with selling a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a housing authority, held on $25,000 bond.
Wilbert McCoy, 33, of Daytona Beach, charged with several counts of selling hydromorphone within 1,000 feet of a school, a public park or a convenience store. His latest arrest was not posted at the jail’s website at the time of this story’s publication.
Leslie Brock, 25, of 408 South Chapel Street, charged with possession of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school, held on $50,000 bond. This is Brock’s 11th jail booking locally since 2008.
Brian Spencer, 36, of 1 Kaiser Place in Palm Coast, charged with possession or sale of Oxycodone, held on $15,000 bond. This is Spencer’s 13th jail booking locally since 2008.
Russell Ash III, 34, of 40 Rockinghorse Drive in Palm Coast, charged with possession or sale of hydromorphone within 1,000 feet of a public park. His booking sheet had not yet been posted at the county jail at the time of publication.
Jason Neal, 31, of 300 East Booe Street in Bunnell, charged with possession or sale of hydromorphone within 1,000 feet of a public park. He’s being held on $50,000 bond. This is Neal’s 18th booking at the county jail since 2008. In May he was arrested on a cocaine sale charge.
Dwayne Jenkins, 31, of 609 South Bacher Street, charged with possession or sale of oxycodone within 1,000 feet of a church, held on $50,000 bond.
Wendy Sydnor, 50, of 24 Blare Castle Drive, charged with sale of hydromorphone, held on $10,000 bond.
Curtis Emmanuel, 28, of 504 Moore Street in Bunnell, charged with sale of hydromorphone within 1,000 feet of a school, held on $25,000 bond.
Steven Taverna, 62, of 502 North Lemon Street, charged with sale of hydromorphone within 1,000 feet of a school. His latest booking had not been posted on the jail’s site at the time of publication. His two previous jail bookings were for probation violation.
Clarence Pew III, age unknown, 105 Belvedere Lane in Palm Coast, charged with sale of hydromorphone within 1,000 feet of a convenience store. His booking had not posted at the jail’s website at the time of publication.
Enlightened says
I would like to know why these individuals with multiple bookings are still on the streets. I say lock them up for good and throw away the key.
hello says
WOW, I’m impressed. Thank you Flagler County Sheriff Department and Bunnell PD and all the undercovers. You done Good.
Granma Lilly says
I’m laughing so hard I just can’t stand it. Ohhhh, the Po Po done caught the BIG CHEESES……71 pills ( Grandma’s pain meds ) …7.5 grams of POT ( not enough for felix the cat to catch a buzz )….$5000.00 in Welfare and Social Security monies. Whoaaaa, maybe Hollywood will come to Palm Coast and start up a New Series ..Palm Coast Vice !
sw says
And see no one was killed during the Operation due to the tactics by Police and the Cooperation of the Criminals to COMPLY. Need I say more….Happy Holidays!
downinthelab says
Sadly, they will be released again by Christmas.
And at the rate most of them are going, booked again by MLK day.
Wouldn’t the Doctor be proud??
Joy says
Now, good work done through cooperation and investigation. Still mad at the police? Turn around and look at your children/grandchildren. They could be buying this crap at school!!! Many kudos to the police. Good work, thank you for your services to our community.
rst says
It will cost the taxpayer more than $10,000 to process these non-violent offenders then house them in the county jail. There must be a better way. I understand the “crack and prescription drug” issue, but marijuana? The inside story would probably reveal these guys and gals would prefer a “real” job; however, none are available especially after being in the “system”. I for one believe more attention needs to be paid towards crimes against people, and before all the finger pointing begins about the effect on humanity, try another argument we’re tired of that one. Really, whose morals do we enforce. I prefer empathy…
h&h says
They’ll all be released with a little pocket change..
Aman says
Won’t put the smallest dent in the drug problem. Useless work. We need sensible drug policy, not this.
pinched says
There are open drug deals going on and heads turn. These are the mice…..bet FCSO won’t catch the rat with the cheese. As much drugs are there are in this county it shouldn’t be hard to pinch these little guys….they’re every where. I’ll commend them when they get the mother load.
JimBob says
For Christ’s Sake, legalize and tax marijuana and some of that other crap will abate. We piss away more money on the “War on Drugs” than we spend on education in this country. But, what a feel good publicity op for the sheriff during his time of travail.
sw says
Pot still is Illegal here it may change but not yet
sw says
since when is 10k pocket change
sw says
u cant Legislate morals its true but for now its still ILLEGAL
Brian says
“You follow drugs, you get drug addicts and drug dealers. But you start to follow the money, and you don’t know where the heck it’s gonna take you.”
Anonymous says
There are both Black and White pictures posted with this article. And children who grow up in houses where drugs/alcohol are a problem are much more likely to abuse drugs themselves AND sell drugs themselves. We need to get beyond the literal black and white” issues many of us prefer to focus on and start dealing with the core issues that keep this problem not only going, but allows such problems to proliferate.
Frank Diliberto says
If pinched knows that all these drugs are out there he must know where they are, let us know!
cc says
You should really say less. different facts for different cases.
sw says
Did anyone mention B/W other than you..
Local says
Well done officers!!!
FCSO sucks says
The SO is a joke. You have seriously wasted that much time and money to take over a $10,000 maximum net worth of drugs? Like someone else said, these are only the little guys. There is a supplier somewhere who will get them out. How much time do we spend on our little guys when we should be cutting the main source? I mean, I know Flagler county doesn’t have a lot going on, but we have COPS as sex offenders… Our own Sheriff is taking our tax dollars for personal use… Allowing the community to sue the SO for his wrong-doings and yet the TAX PAYERS pay for his mistakes!! What is wrong with you people?! Don’t ya think we should be focusing our attention somewhere else? I too agree these people will be released in no time. While I agree the thought of our children having access to these drugs is heinous, I think it’s worse to put these people behind bars for a long time and allow tax payers to pay their way. We need a new drug prevention program. I will be much happier when we get a sheriff in who does his job. Manfre sucks anyways.
HorseWith Aname says
Hey Jim Bob heres a thought to ponder, the legalization effort almost passed, if the legal stature allowed a over 50% yes vote to be considered a win it would of have passed. But we have this absurd 60% requirement for it to pass. But think about this if half the people that could vote for it to be legalized did not already have a felony on their record that prevents them from voting it would of have passed with flying colors. That is the problem with it, most of those who would vote yes cannot vote. I myself included I got a felony from another state for possession of marijuana when i was 19yrs old. In that state possession of any amount is a felony my little tiny 1/4 of a joint that i forgot was in my jacket prevents me from voting for it. I like many others.
As far as the rest of the crap they seized I say yeah!!!! good work coppers they need to get that shit off the streets. But yes I have to agree with jimbob the guy that got caught for the weed should of been overlooked considering everything else they found that guy should of got a get out of the bust free card unless ofcourse he was peddling the other junk as well.
And whats up with that herb looks like mexicos finest compressed commercial garbage. Is that what everyone smokes around here? Yuk… If they would legalize it that would put that cartel bud out of business with some of floridas finest homegrown taking its place :) Seriously though they keep it illegal and everyone has to smoke that brown crap and send all their money to the mexican cartels for garbage herb. That money should be in the hand of florida farmers for some real nice hydro.
Since moving over here I gae up smoking because I do not know anyone to get it from, and not risking my freedom or life to buy from a undercover or some street thug in a alley somewhere. Especially not for any brown garbage like that. haha :) I do feel sorry for the stoners around here if thats all they have to smoke.
And man I knew this town was small but you call that a seizure where I come from they run out of tables to stack the stuff on when they do a bust. Man this town is sorry just about as sorry as the war on drugs itself. Follow that money trail to corrupt politicians and institutions. Its all about the money they make way more from locking people up and incarcerating them then they would from taxing it. And thats why the big smear campaign against it. Its all about the money.
Marijuana should be legal, but the rest of that crap especially the crack coke etc. that should always be illegal. Now the prescription meds well follow my comment in the last paragraph about following the money, pharmaceutical companies are big money, and when a compound like THC and cannaboids alleviates pain well that bites directly into the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies and their precious profits from oxicotin roxi etc. thats right follow the money I cant help but to wonder how many of them sell right to street level dealers as they can get 3 times as much that way than through the pharmacy counter. Yes just a conspiracy theory but no worse than that of the CIA selling cocaine to dealers back in the 80’s
Thats right imagine that.
Citizen says
Did the Sheriff write a report on this one even though no shots were fired? Sorry Manfre this won’t restore our trust and faith in you. You may end up being cell mates with some of these people before it is all over with.
ME says
okay so our tax dollars can feed and cloth them! yup makes sense to me
wake up! says
If they had shot them Al and Jessie could have come to town to stir up something!
Anonymous says
People can change because nobody’s perfect… For all the bad things people say bout other’s, God will handle you, who are u people too judge… Yes I’ve sold drugs before but it’s just a mistake that’s made in life nothing more nothing less….