BALTIMORE — Monday, city leaders announced the takedown of a major drug trafficking organization.
City leaders including Mayor Brandon Scott, Shantay Jackson who’s the Director of MONSE, Commissioner Michael Harrison, and State's Attorney Ivan Bates said although multiple people were arrested, police are still looking for one person that’s part of this group who’s responsible for violence on Baltimore City streets.
Four out of five people have been arrested as part of this drug trafficking organization, and police said they have taken a half kilo of fentanyl off city streets.
“These just aren’t petty drug dealers. This group has been connected to a proliferation of deadly opioids in Shipley Hill and the surrounding communities, in addition to being associated with known violent activity,” Mayor Scott said.
City leaders said thanks to the collaboration between the State's Attorney’s narcotic unit and BPD’s Group Violence Unit, they started their investigation in January of this year when GVRS expanded to the southern district. Bates said in March they indicted five people they believe to be responsible for distributing deadly drugs.
RELATED: GVRS looks to expand after seeing decrease in homicides in western district
“With a number of drug overdoses that we see each and every year in our city this is a major win. One of the things that’s also important, we recovered almost a half kilo of fentanyl that can kill thousands of people in our city,” Bates said.
The five people indicted include Dana Kennedy, Michelle Taylor, Jaden Windgate, DeSean Parker, and Kenneth Davis.
On April 4, search warrants were conducted and half a kilo of fentanyl was found inside the home and vehicle of Kennedy allowing police to arrest everyone but Davis who still hasn’t been found.
“Of these five, four of them have previous arrest records that include assault, drug distribution, and even attempted murder. Those who continue to perpetrate a culture of violence in our city will be held to account and brought to justice. We will continue to work together to dismantle organizations that add to our nations overdose epidemic and destroying our neighborhoods through drug trafficking and gun violence,” Commissioner Harrison said.
City leaders said thanks to help from neighbors in the community complaining about drugs saturating their neighborhoods, they were able to complete this takedown and they are anticipating many more like it in the near future.
