BOLIVA — Early Thursday morning, before the sun came up, more than 60 law enforcement members met at the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office for a briefing on the fall drug roundup – an operation that executed more than 65 arrest warrants for more than 200 different charges.
Drug roundup operations like this one give police an opportunity to serve dozens of arrest warrants at one time, throughout the county.
The day started with coffee and biscuits as members from Brunswick County’s Sherriff’s Office and its Vice Narcotics Unit, Brunswick County Sheriff SWAT Team, FBI, and surrounding municipalities gathered in the county training room to await assignments.
After an initial briefing, law enforcement officers were assigned to one of three teams, North Team, South Team and Middle Team – each relating to a particular geographic region of the county.
Members of the media were invited to accompany law enforcement officers, or drive themselves to the scenes to help document the operation.
Port City Daily was assigned to the North Team and decided to get firsthand experience riding with officers accompanying them to execute the arrest warrants.
The first stop of the morning for the North Team proved fruitless since the suspect, Antoine Levar Graham, was not at his residence.
Graham is wanted for a marijuana charge and has a history with the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Department – in 2014 Graham was shot by officers after fleeing a checkpoint, nearly striking officers.
The next stop however, proved successful with the arrest of Terri Lyn McNeill who was charged with possession of schedule two narcotics, as well as one count of selling/delivering a schedule two narcotic.
When officers arrived on scene, McNeill was sitting outside along with several other people. Officers announced their presence and were met with only verbal resistance and the insistence that no crime had taken place.
Officers searched the vicinity and found marijuana as well as paraphernalia on the property and two men were cited, but not arrested.
After transporting McNeill to centralized staging area where a transport vehicle waited, the team moved on to its third stop of the day, a stop that ended with two arrests.
When law enforcement arrived at a location to serve an arrest warrant for Tonya Ann Green, another female inside of the home was detained after officers recognized her name and realized the woman had an outstanding warrant as well, one that was not a part of the drug roundup.
Officers discovered prescription medications that were not prescribed to the individuals in the residence, and a misdemeanor citation was also issued.
By the end of the day, the entire operation had resulted in 39 arrests, according to Public Information Officer Emily Flax.
Officers said there would likely be more arrests made as people arrive home from work, and one suspect had already turned himself into the detention center when he heard police were searching for him.
Author’s note: Several members of law enforcement Port City Daily encountered were actively working as undercover or plain clothes officers and requested their photos and names be left out of the story for their own safety. The suspects named in this story had arrest warrants issued.
This story has been updated to reflect the amount of suspects apprehended by the end of the day.
Michael Praats can be reached at [email protected]
