54 arrested on 172 drug-related charges in Hinton - Beckley Register-Herald

HINTON — An eight-month investigation by West Virginia State Police resulted in the arrests of 54 Hinton-area residents Wednesday.

All of the charges were related to selling or conspiracy to sell drugs.  

"(Hinton) was a little quieter than it was yesterday," Summers County Prosecutor Amy Mann remarked Thursday.

Sgt. T.L. Bragg and Cpl. J.D. Cooper of the Hinton detachment led the investigation that resulted in 172 drug-related charges being brought against 54 suspects, according to State Police Sgt. Michael Baylous.

Hinton Police and Summers County Sheriff's deputies assisted in the sweep, which started at 11 a.m. Wednesday and continued throughout the day.

Four of the suspects were already incarcerated for unrelated crimes, said Mann.

Mann said Bragg and Cooper's investigation targeted certain drug dealers in the community. Officers made "controlled buys" of drugs, and Mann requested and got a special grand jury session Tuesday from Summers Circuit Judge Robert Irons, exclusively to present the evidence from the investigation.

"We presented 54 indictments, and we were happy to say we got 54 true bills, which means the state had proven their case by probable cause, and we were able to issue warrants," said Mann.

Hinton Council members have publicly complained that drug dealing and prostitution have become a fixture of Temple Street.

A Hinton native, Mann acknowledged that Hinton — like many small towns in southern West Virginia — is plagued by a drug culture that has resulted in a rise of addiction-fueled crimes.

She said Hinton has "changed" in the past years. She worries about her elderly father walking down the street and takes care to lock her doors.

"It's just gotten out of control, and it's growing," she said. "I'd say 95 percent of the cases I prosecute are related in some manner to drugs, either delivery or burglary in order to steal things to pawn it to get money to buy drugs."

Mann said she couldn't accurately pinpoint the cause of the widespread drug addiction.

"I wish I knew, and I'd try to fix it," she added. "But I think it's idleness.

"The majority of people we charge and indict have no jobs. They don't, and I don't know if they want to work.

"But to wake up every morning and have no direction and no structure, and go stand on a street corner where everybody else is selling pills and snorting them and making money ... I guess the desire is there."

She said her office often offers the alternative of short-term drug treatment counseling to offenders in lieu of incarceration and also tries to get drug offenders enrolled in long-term rehabilitation programs through probation.

"We have started a long-term community corrections program in which we do drug counseling," she said. "But long-term treatment is the answer for much of this problem in West Virginia.

"We don't have facilities to treat as many addicts as we have," Mann added. "I don't know, of course, if this (sweep) will make a dent.

"You take 54 of them off the streets and 54 more will show up; but I certainly have a great deal of respect for the State Police. They have worked an awful lot of man hours during the last eight months."

All of those arrested were transported to Southern Regional Jail Wednesday, according to Baylous.

Arraignment hearings for the 54 suspects are scheduled for Oct. 2.

— E-mail: jfarrish@register-herald.com