[StBernard] NOPD employee arrested in huge drug bust

[Westley Annis]

NOPD employee arrested in huge drug bust

05:40 PM CDT on Thursday, October 16, 2008

Katie Moore / Eyewitness News 

The St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office got a little help from the National
Guard in making the parish's largest cocaine bust in more than a decade, and
now deputies are hoping the bust will help federal law enforcement agencies
catch the larger drug distributor. 



Video: Watch the Story The bust started with a coffee stop at the Day n
Night convenience story on Judge Perez Drive just across the St. Bernard
Parish line in Arabi. According to deputies, two National Guardsmen stopped
at the store just before 2 a.m., and noticed two men buying large quantities
of baking soda and sandwich bags. 

"I'm sure they run across drugs packaged in these type of things and I'm
sure they know that it's cut with baking soda and they use that stuff to
make crack," said St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Chief Deputy Jimmy Pohlman. 

Pohlman said that the National Guardsmen called the sheriff's office with a
description of the rental truck the two men were driving, and that the
Guardsmen speculated the men lived close to the store, because they were
wearing slippers and pajamas. 

St. Bernard deputies then tracked down the car at a half duplex on Valor
Drive in Chalmette, and once they secured a search warrant, narcotics
officers raided the home, seizing 13 pounds of cocaine; $80,000 in cash and
four AK-47 assault rifles, one they believe was reported stolen in Houston. 

During the bust, deputies arrested Contrice and Keith Martin, Tony Green and
David Haywood. All four were later booked on charges of possession of
cocaine with the intent to distribute and possession of a stolen weapon,
among other drug charges. 

"You're looking at a street value of almost $600,000," said St. Bernard
Parish Sheriff's Col. Chad Clark about the huge cache of cocaine. 

Detectives later learned that Contrice Martin has worked as a New Orleans
Police Department radio dispatcher for the past seven years, and according
to a New Orleans Police Department Spokesman, she resigned her position with
the department after her arrest. Any further investigation into whether she
committed any crimes while working for NOPD will be handled as part of the
St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office investigation, also according to the
NOPD. 

"After further investigation, we learned that all of them were from New
Orleans, but moved to St. Bernard," Clark continued. "When asked why St.
Bernard? Mr. Martin stated that St. Bernard was safe. 

Two of the suspects had just arrived from Houston where investigators
believe they purchased much of the cocaine for re-sale in New Orleans and
according to Pohlman, investigators believe it is part of a drug network
that was created through Houston area evacuations after Hurricane Katrina. 

Sheriff's investigators said they'll work with the ATF to see if the weapons
may have been used in other crimes. 

The three men were being held at the St. Bernard Parish Jail on $525,000
bonds, and Contrice Martin was being held on a $400,000 bond.