BY ANNE MICHAUD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When Cincinnati police seized 123 pounds of marijuana said to be earmarked for sale in and around Findlay Market, it capped a week of big drug confiscations.
Police arrested an Avondale man Friday night, Derrick Harrison, 40, at the Interstate Motel on West McMicken Avenue. The marijuana had been shipped from Phoenix, and Mr. Harrison appeared at the motel to collect it, police said.
Cincinnati police received a tip from the Arizona state police, said Sgt. Scott Albert of Cincinnati's street-corner unit, which works undercover. He said two Arizona officers were flown in by the Pentagon.
SWAT units, the FBI, the Air National Guard, the Hamilton County sheriff's department and Cincinnati Districts 1 and 5 assisted in the seizure, Sgt. Albert said. He said Officer Kelly Herman led the investigation for Cincinnati.
Mr. Harrison was arraigned Saturday morning and charged with first-class felony possession as a major drug offender. Sgt. Albert said Mr. Harrison refused to cooperate with police by naming accomplices. "He is very close to a major drug kingpin in this area, and that's the one we were really going for," Sgt. Albert said.
Earlier last week, Cincinnati police seized 1.5 pounds of heroin and $20,000 in Roselawn and arrested two people, Sgt. Albert said. In another raid, he said, police confiscated 200 grams of crack cocaine downtown, worth about $30,000.
"It was just one of those weeks," Sgt. Albert said. "You might go a long time without one of these happening. Everything came together."
