Prompted by neighborhood complaints about drug dealing, agents with the West Volusia Narcotics Task Force have given some extra attention to the DeLand area.
The attention came in the form of undercover drug buys from dealers working the streets — selling everything from cocaine and marijuana to prescription narcotics, such as Dilaudid and Lortab.
With the drug deals and follow-up investigations resulting in the issuance of arrest warrants, agents began fanning out late last week to clean up the streets by rounding up the dealers.
By Monday, agents had nabbed 10 defendants. Another six with open warrants are still being sought.
The undercover drug buys have been going on for the past few months, with agents primarily targeting areas along South Clara Avenue, South Florida Avenue, South Woodland Boulevard and West Voorhis Avenue.
Task Force agents, who represent the Volusia County Sheriff's Office and the DeLand Police Department, began rounding up the drug dealers Thursday. The last one was picked up Monday, with the defendants ranging in age from 19 to 55.
Their names and charges are as follows:
- Shane Bailey, 19, sale and delivery of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a park, sale of cocaine, possession of oxycodone
- Dantron Bright, 27, sale and delivery of a schedule II substance within 1,000 feet of a park
- Demond Douglas, 39, two counts of sale and delivery of a schedule II substance within 1,000 feet of a park
- Dramitiz Houston, 23, sale and delivery of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a park
- Wendy Huff, 50, two counts of sale and delivery of a schedule II substance
- Lambert Johnson, 55, sale and delivery of cocaine
- Skyler Koehler, 18, sale and delivery of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a park
- Bernard Milton, 29, sale and delivery of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school
- Clarence Reddick, 29, sale of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a park
- Kelvin Smiley, 42, two counts of sale and delivery of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school
The West Volusia Narcotics Task Force is a multiagency force of narcotics agents that shares resources and crosses jurisdictional boundaries to combat street-level drug and vice crimes.