Local bust likely broke cocaine ring

By JAMES KWASNIK
Collegian Staff Writer

When state police arrested 13 people last week who were allegedly involved in a drug ring, they may have stopped a large source of cocaine to Centre County.

Trooper John Bravis of the Rockview State Police, who served as an investigating officer and undercover agent, said he thought the drug bust was a significant accomplishment because a large source of cocaine was stopped.

The ring stretched from New York to Bellefonte to Ohio, he said.

It also may have helped to deter drug transactions in the Bellefonte area, Bravis said. A decrease in activity has occurred during the last couple of months since the word got out that an investigation was ensuing, he said.

Police used different techniques to gather information in acquiring the logistics of where and when the crimes took place.

Local residents provided police with information on suspected drug deals by calling in to tell police what they saw, Bravis said.

With the approval of the district attorney, Bravis said the police used surveillance techniques such as hidden cameras and wire taps to monitor the criminal activities.

Police also gave people previously prosecuted for a drug crime a choice between serving their entire sentences or acting as informants to receive a more lenient sentence, Bravis said.

Informants gave the accused people money to purchase the drugs for them. Some of the accused people would then travel to New York City for the cocaine.

Bravis said the accused people accumulated from $4,000 to $10,000 of drug orders and then called their contacts in New York City in advance. Because the availability of the drugs is higher in major cities, Bravis said the accused people would buy the drugs for a cheaper rate and then sell them at great profit.

The accused people could buy one gram of cocaine for $26 and then sell it for $100 -- the average price in central Pennsylvania, he said.

The accused people obtained the marijuana from a different source, Bravis said. Drug Enforcement Agency believes the marijuana is imported from the western part of the country, he said.

The marijuana obtained in Ohio would be sold in central Pennsylvania at about $2,000 per pound.