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Show Wednesday, Dec. 22, 1976 Sty. s&TS. "3 City, state and county authorities art questioned by Newspaper publisher aunng last week's Two months of undercover work by state' narcotics agents culminated last Wednesday Wed-nesday when a combined force of state, county and city police officers went door to door to make 17 drug arrests in ; Parte City and Snyderville. Led by three Utah Liquor Enforcement, agents who lived in Park City for two months prior to the bust, , Summit County deputies, ' Parte City police officers and five additional liquor enforce- ' ment agents began serving . warrants on alleged drug violators at noon Wednes- , day. The warrants were served at homes and places -of employment. Road Block ;;r Shortly after , the arrests began, the Utah Highway Patrol set up a roadblock at the junction of Highways 224 and 248 to prevent suspects from fleeing j the city. In -addition, county and city police were stationed at Guardsman's Pass at the south end of town. A highway patrol bus was used as a portable jail during the roundup. Suspects were booked and finger printed on the bus before being transported trans-ported to the county jail in Coalville. " - According to Park City Police Chief Garth Wilkinson, Wilkin-son, the majority of the arrests were for the sale of marijuana but there were " also arrests for the sale of cocaine and LSD. The-largest -single , purchase reportedly jnade by undercover agents was one ounce of cocaine for $1,700. : ' -The agents attempted to buy drugs Wednesday morning morn-ing and succeeded in "four or five" cases. This also led to the arrest of several people lor' "resorting," which is being present at the scene While a controlled substance is sole. , v Mostly Males Wilkinson said all those r i FOR ' 'll SALE House 4jjffTv drug bust. arrested were over 18 years of age and that the majority of the-' people name1 on warrants were males. However, How-ever, "six or seven" females were taken into custody, mostly for resorting, the chief said. In all, 31 warrants' were prepared on Monday, Dec. 13, prior to Wednesday's arrests. With some persons having more, than One count against them', the total number being sought was twenty-four. ' . Following the 17 persons taken into custody Wednesday Wednes-day for sales and resorting,., two suspects named on warrants turned themselves in on Thursday and another on Friday. In addition another person is being ' apprehended on Friday. Wilkinson said five warrants are still outstanding outstand-ing and it is believed that the persons named left town. . The same undercover agents who worked Park City also built cases in Wasatch County and four persons were ; arrested Wednesday in Keetley and Heber City. ' ; Did Not Know Wilkinson told the Newspaper News-paper that he was the only Park City police officer who was aware of the undercover work prior to Wednesday , morning. He said Park City Mayor Leon Uriarte and City Manager Wayne Matthews were appraised of the situation about a month ago. Wilkinson reported that no federal agents were involved in the investigation or arrests and that George Middleton of the Liquor Enforcement Agency signed k all the complaints 1 and controls most of ' the ; evidence. . ' The police chief said he went to the Liquor Enforcement Enforce-ment Agency in October to request that an investigation be inititated only to be told Drag iysft Photo: that agents were already operating in Park City. According to several of the persons arrested, the agents were known locally as "Bob," "Lloyd," and "Joe." Bob reportedly lived in the Young Apartments . at the top of Main Street and was employed by the C'est Bon Lounge as a' doorman. One of those arrested said Bob was a "real good friend of ours.". He added that he often "got high" with Bob and that the agent had been observed "really out of it" many times. Bob would sometimes "Tug at people and beg them to get hirii high,"'1 the suspect said.1 The suspect said he was at the home of a friend named on N a warrant '. when "ten narcs" descended on the house and conducted a search although the freind was not home at the time. "The suspect said the agents found quantities of a controlled control-led substance and took him into custody. The suspect reported that prior to the agents' arrival, he was feeling ill and that during the search be began to vomit. He said the agents studys the vomit to see if an attempt had been made to swallow evidence, v Another person involved in the bust said one suspect" s sister who was visiting and who "doesn't even get high," was also taken into custody, leaving her two young children stranded. . . Will Return "Agents will be back as soon as they can," Chief Wilkinson said. "We don't feel by any means that we got everybody who has been dealing." Commenting on the fact that most of the arrests were for the sale of a relatively small amount of a controlled substance, the police chief said, "We would like to get the big people but you need lots of bucks to do that. The Looking for a Home? Mountain Realty is a professional Let us do the work. . . PRICED FOR IMMEDIATE SALE. IMMEDIATE . -OCCUPANCY. DUPLEX WFTH 3 BEDROOMS, 2 ' BATHS PER UNIT CARPET, DRAPES, APPLIANCES. AP-PLIANCES. COMPLETELY FURNISHED. 2 CAR 4 ' GARAGE. V Jan WlSkbtg Pat McDowell feds seem to be the only people with the bucks." As for those arrested, Wilkinson predicted, V We won't have any problem getting convictions in the cases we have." . Of the 31 warrants issued for the Parte City area, 22 were "John Doe" warrants, termed as such because either the first or last names of the suspects are unknown. There are two warrants issued for persons whose first and last names are unknown. Trials Police officials said most of 5 the drug cases will go to trial in Coalviller "Probably in January." "', The penalty in Utah for the sale of marijuana is a fine up to $5,000, up to five years in prison or both. A person convicted of selling cocaine or LSD can be sent to prison for a maximum of 15 years, be fined up to $15000 or both. Rumors Chief Wilkinson denied rumors that the drug arrests were related to the murder of Park City resident Bonnie Ryan. "There's no connection that we know of," he said. Mrs. Ryan, six months pregnant, was found shot to death in the back seat of her! car on December & The car was discovered in a Granger, ' Utah shopping mall parking ' lot. . Wilkinson also said that the bust was in no way related to ex-pblice Chief Thayle Lund. Earlier this year, Lund shocked the City Council by claiming a large number of drug arrests were , to take place following an extensive investigation by undercover agents. . , When no arrests followed the announcement and he was unable ' to verify the presence of any agents or evidence, Lund resigned. 1 PRESENTS MA GNIFICENCE IN DINING arrne 'maim AND .e. ee. e.ea. eaT e. Intho ; LOUNGE ' NITELY -'-Cct COMMENCING WEDNESDAY, DEC. 27,1976 FROM 9 P.M. - -1 ee Paged |