Dozens Busted In County Drug Sweep

SNOW HILL -- A total of 40 Worcester residents were arrested and eight more are still wanted on a wide variety of drug distribution charges last weekend during a two-day operation carried out by multiple law enforcement agencies through the south end of the county.

Last Saturday and Sunday, members of the Worcester County Criminal Enforcement Team conducted a two-day operation stemming from a six-month drug distribution investigation focusing on Snow Hill and Pocomoke.

The purpose of the investigation was to have an immediate and major impact on the drug trade in those municipalities by focusing on low level, mid-level and high level distributors of controlled dangerous substances.

The county’s Criminal Enforcement Team, composed of the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, the Maryland State Police, the Ocean City Police Department and the Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office, obtained either Circuit Court indictments or District Court arrest warrants on dozens of individuals identified during the investigation.

Armed with the indictments and warrants, the Criminal Enforcement Team last Friday and Saturday executed search and seizure warrants at nine residences in Snow Hill and Pocomoke. Combined tactical teams from the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office and the Ocean City and Berlin Police Departments made entry into the nine residences and a total of 40 arrests were made including two juveniles.

The charges run the gamut from possession and possession with intent to distribute marijuana, cocaine and crack cocaine to conspiracy to distribute and distribution in a school zone. Among those arrested from Snow Hill were Deron Ames, 19; Joshua Handy Pitts, 43; Anthony Lamont Bibbins, 28; Jamon Keith Byrd, 27; Clinton Wilson Waters, 38; John Donzell Ginn, 42; Christopher Kinsey Johnson, 19; Gloria Jean Smith, 53; Tanya Rena Jenkins, 36; Brent Hamill Marshall, 37; Stefan Dante Allen, Sr., 31; Earl Finney Tull, 42; Craig Lamont Shockley, 33; Andrew Lamont Snead, 43; Pecoro Lynn Jackson, 25; Betty Jane Williams, 42; Dawn Rochelle Hudson, 51; Robert Steven Jackson, 44; and Charles Benjamin Powell, 47.

Those arrested from Pocomoke included Breon Odale Ayres, 19; Patrick Lee Schoolfield, 28; Javon Tyree Schoolfield, 25; Richard Wayne Williams, 36; Honiss Webster Cane, 40; Gabriel Devon Hayes, 34; Broadus Lorenzo Mason, 32; Donald Edward Sturgis, Jr., 29; Antonio Lopez Wise, 39; Sharon Raye Benoit, 49; Kaniesha L. Johnson, 18; Martel Lamel Costen, 26; Minaster Fate Nixon Wright, 55; Tamar Gilbert Cutler, 27; Gregory Darnell Snead, Jr., 23; Eric Vincent Bishop, Sr., 55; Marcus Delonte Fletcher, 36; Devin Devon Bryant, 22; and Tyrone Kurtis Nixon, 32.