Maricopa drug bust nets arrests

Authorities raided a home on West Oster Drive in the Villages at Rancho El Dorado early Thursday morning and arrested three people suspected of shipping drugs via FedEx and UPS.

The raid was part of a one week investigation by the Pinal County Narcotics Task Force, which included the Department of Public Safety (DPS), the Maricopa Police Department, the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

According to DPS, Sharon Phillips, Tyrone Johnson and Gary Brown were arrested on suspicion of shipping marijuana from Maricopa to Fairfield, N.J. Search warrants were executed by DPS officers in Maricopa and by New Jersey State Police in Fairfield. DPS Sgt. Bill Beck said the three were booked into the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office in Florence. Two individuals were arrested by New Jersey State Police in Fairfield as part of the investigation.

Beck said the warrant was served around 6:30 a.m. and more than a dozen DPS officers and one Drug Enforcement Administration agent took part in the local raid.

DPS Spokesman Harold Sanders said that officers serve the warrant when it is safest for them to enter. “The first 45 to 55 minutes were used to render the place safe, and then the search and gathering evidence probably took about three hours,” Sanders said.

DPS reported that authorities seized some 500 pounds of marijuana between the two raids. Another 100 pounds of marijuana had been seized earlier in the week in New Jersey.

Sanders said no officers were injured during the execution of the local warrant.

Photo by Dave Thomas