T.N.T. Pulls Off Groveland Area Drug Bust

Sonora, CA — With the assist of a number of law enforcement agencies the Tuolumne Narcotics Team scored a major drug bust Thursday and Friday in the Groveland area.

Detective Neil Lilly tipped T.N.T. that there was blatant drug activity at the 2008 Dance of the Dead Festival at the Evergreen Lodge and the surrounding area. T.N.T. subsequently joined forces with the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s patrol unit, the K-9 patrols from the Santa Cruz and Stanislaus Sheriffs Departments, state parole officers and the C.H.P to check traffic coming into the area for the Festival.

In the two day operation 104 traffic enforcement stops were conducted. Many of those stops evolved into searches revealing significant quantities of marijuana, psilocybin, LSD and ecstacy.

Eleven felony arrests were made ranging from possession to possession for sales and transportation of controlled substances. Additionally seven misdemeanor citations were issued for violations involving traffic and non traffic offenses. One DUI was arrested along with two parolees at large. Not a single drug offender was from Tuolumne County.

According to T.N.T. Sgt. Craig Davis, “This operation was a huge success for our unit and for the community. A lot of drugs were taken off of the streets and out of the hands of people profiting from other addictions. We were able to make many of these arrests prior to the suspects arriving at the festival and I’m sure it had a positive effect on the festival and its attendees by keeping narcotic related offenses to a minimum. Multi agency cooperation and participation was the real key to success. Without the manpower and utilization of the K-9 teams I think our success would have been limited.”

Written by bill.johnson@mlode.com