More than 100 charged in anti-drugs and guns operation in Palm Beach County

ByAlexandra Seltzer
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 10:07 p.m. Thursday, July 28, 2011
Posted: 10:18 a.m. Thursday, July 28, 2011

WEST PALM BEACH — More than 100 people were charged with weapon and drug crimes this week as a result of a year-long federal and state investigation aimed at taking violent criminals out of local neighborhoods.

In what they dubbed "Operation Smoking Gun II", undercover agents targeted suspected gun and pill traffickers, making buys throughout the year. On Wednesday, officers and agents swooped across the county, making arrests after warrants were issued for their arrest. Those nabbed were taken to the South Florida Fairgrounds for processing, officials said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.

In all, 49 were charged with federal crimes and 57 face state charges. Some remain at large.

Wilfredo A. Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said at a Thursday news conference that the operation focused on the trafficking and use of illegal firearms and narcotics offenses.

"In South Florida, violent crime is just out of control," he said.

Seized in the operation were nearly 350 firearms, more than 18,000 pills including Oxycodone, morphine, and ecstasy, and a total of more than 10 kilograms of powder cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana.

"Today their neighborhoods are safer than yesterday. These are weapons that were going to be used to terrorize the neighborhoods," Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said. "And the people that were going to use the weapons? They're now in jail."

About 25 of the seized weapons were displayed at the news conference. They included SKS rifles that can shoot 30 rounds at once, European military rifles, and sawed-off shot guns.

Of the arrested, 67 were convicted felons and more than 14 will be charged as armed career criminals, said Hugo Barrera, special agent in charge of the Miami office of the Bureau of Alcohol,

Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The defendants' ages range from 19 to 60.

One of the gangs that was dismantled is the San Castle Soldiers, based in Boynton Beach.

The Haitian-American gang is named for the neighborhood near Lantana and Hypoluxo roads. Members are linked to crimes including the murder of a rival gang member who police say they shot and killed in front of the Boynton Beach Mall's f.y.e. record store Christmas Eve 2006.

Among those arrested were 27-year-old Ashley Marie King, of Palm Springs, faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on a federal charge of selling a stolen firearm. County jail records show King is on probation until 2014 for trafficking in stolen property and grand theft.

Nelens Jean-Pierre, also known as "First," also faces up to life in prison. The 24-year-old Lantana man was arrested on 13 federal charges ranging from distribution of controlled substances to conspiring with others to distributing oxycodone. records show he was previously arrested for homicide in 2008, but the charge was later dropped.

The operation is a continuation of Operation Smoking Gun I, which resulted in the arrests of 33 people on federal firearm and narcotics charges in Broward County last year.

Agencies involved in the operation include the ATF, the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Marshals, along with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, Boynton Beach Police, and the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office.

alexandra_seltzer@pbpost.com

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