400 Pounds of Cocaine, $1.5 Million in cash discovered by Constable serving civil papers at Carrollton home

**TXCharlie** · 10-09-07, 05:57 AM

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...13fd631d7.html

Cocaine, cash seized at Carrollton home

11:52 PM CDT on Friday, October 5, 2007
By DONNA FIELDER / Denton Record-Chronicle
dfielder@dentonrc.com

Members of the Denton County Sheriff's Drug Enforcement Unit seized almost $1.5 million in cash and 180 kilos of cocaine from a Carrollton home Thursday.

Denton County Sheriff's Office
Denton County sherrif's officers seized 180 kilos of cocaine, $1.5 million in cash and a cache of weapons from a home in Carrollton Friday. They are looking for the owners, but not to return the contraband.

"We're continuing an investigation, trying to identify the men who fled from the house where we found the contraband," said Sheriff's Captain Jeff Wawro.

Usually, an investigation begins with suspects and ends with a seizure. It didn't happen that way Thursday.

Capt. Wawro said a Precinct 6 deputy constable went to 1806 Post Oak Road in Carrollton to serve a legal document from a civil case. He knocked on the front door, and several men ran out the back door and fled the area.

"The constable's first impression was that he had interrupted a burglary in progress," Capt. Wawro said. "The door was open, and he went inside to secure the scene. He noticed much of the contraband we seized out in plain sight. He called our narcotics unit for help."

Narcotics Lt. David Scott obtained a search warrant for the house and two vehicles left there. The deputies found wrapped packages of cash.

They also seized the two vehicles, four assault rifles, five handguns and three bulletproof vests, Capt. Wawro said.

Lt. Scott said he called Carrollton police and asked for their assistance. They brought drug dogs, he said, and the dogs located the cocaine. "It was hidden in a special hidden compartment in a truck, and we might have missed it had the dogs not alerted on it," Lt. Scott said.

The cocaine weighed 180 kilos, or 396 pounds, and the cash totaled $1,488,950. Authorities said that one gram of cocaine now sells for about $100 on the street, so the stash was worth about $18 million.

The county narcotics deputies also asked for assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration and county forensic, Special Operations and SWAT teams. They moved the contraband under heavy security to the evidence room at the Denton County Sheriff's Office. On Friday morning, security officers again accompanied the cash to a bank, which was counted in a secluded room.

Capt. Wawro said the DEA took possession of the cocaine.

The situation could have become critical had the suspects chosen to stay in the house because of the firepower and protective clothing they had available, Capt. Wawro said.

"The constable was very fortunate," he said. "These obviously are very dangerous men."

**TXCharlie** · 10-09-07, 06:07 AM

Can you imagine walking into a stash like this? That should get him a few points with his supervisor!!!

**bufford408** · 10-09-07, 06:42 AM

Originally Posted by TXCharlie

Can you imagine walking into a stash like this? That should get him a few points with his supervisor!!!

I have served a great deal of papers in my career. I have worked two sheriffs departments, I was even a deputy constable in Texas for a couple years. I have came up when they were smoking marijuana or something minor but this would be great.
That was a great job from the Constable. Of course being in the right place at the right time sometimes helps also.