10 arrested in drug roundup at South Dallas carwash are ID'd Link
12:00 AM CDT on Friday, September 11, 2009
By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN / The Dallas Morning News
sgoldstein@dallasnews.com
Men and women ranging in age from 17 to 60 were among those arrested Wednesday in a police drug roundup focused on a notorious South Dallas carwash, Dallas police said.
The arrests at Jim's Car Wash on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and two suspected drug stash houses nearby were part of a 2 ½-month undercover investigation, police said.
The men arrested on drug dealing charges are Eddie Ray Jackson, 43; Anthony Clyde Thomas, 51; Charles Edward Watkins, 48; Jeremy Daymond Acy, 19; Stevon Wiley, 48; Marvin Grant Walker, 19; Paul Lord, 17; AC Marcus Jones, 30.
The women arrested on drug dealing charges are Lvarrna Cooper, 60, and Wanda Joyce James, 51.
Eight other people were arrested on lesser charges, according to police records. Officers also recovered drugs and weapons.
Police officials praised the operation and vowed to keep up the pressure at the business and surrounding areas. The carwash has long been plagued by drugs and other criminal activity.
"The real success won't come until we abate the activity there, until we change the complexion of that neighborhood," Dallas police Assistant Chief Charlie Cato said.
Not everyone at the carwash was ultimately accused of wrongdoing.
Kimjada Rice, 38, of Cedar Hill said she was in the neighborhood with her fiancé to pick up her 12-year-old daughter from a nearby school. They had extra time and pulled into the carwash to vacuum their truck, she said.
Within minutes, Dallas police officers swarmed the lot.
"We saw all these police cars just speeding, coming towards us," Rice said. "They surrounded the entire carwash. They came out in the SWAT car. It was very scary."
Rice, who is four months pregnant, said she was handcuffed and detained for about 45 minutes without explanation. She said one officer told her, "I guess you'll pick another carwash to wash your car at next time."
Cato said officers had warrants for several people they believed could be at the carwash at the time. It is standard procedure in such an operation to detain everyone on the property until they are positively identified, he said.
"We can't just let people wander off," Cato said. "Whoever is there gets detained, and as soon as things get sorted out, they're on their way."
