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Sheriff and Mayor Hold News Conference, Express Surprise Over Type Of Drugs Found In Century

Escambia County Sheriff Ron McNesby and Century Mayor Freddie McCall held a joint news conference Friday morning, praising each one another for helping to rid Century’s streets of illegal drugs and expressing surprise at the type of drugs found in an early Friday morning raid.

“I met with Mayor McCall in regard to some drug problems they were having in Century,” McNesby said. “His office cooperated 100 percent with us based on complaints he and received and just his observations up there. And I ordered an undercover investigation into this thing.”

That investigation led to the arrest of 10 Century area residents in raids early Friday morning, with the arrest of up to six more people expected soon.

The four search warrants were served by officers from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department, the department’s SWAT team, the Drug Enforcement Administratin (DEA) and the Navy Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS).

The drugs involved in the Century investigation were a little different this time, according to the sheriff, with most of the investigation centering around hydrocodone, also known by the brand name Lortab.

“Normally, we’ve had cocaine problems up there, and crack and things of that nature,” McNesby said. “We are seeing more of a prescription drug type problem up there now like Lortab. That’s kind of fascinating in that it is kind of changing the face of what is happening in the Century area.”

“Even though we got cocaine this time, we are finding that it is more of the Lortab type medicine,” the sheriff said. “I think it is becoming more of a drug of the times that crack cocaine is because of the accessibility of it.”

The sheriff said that the Lortab in the case likely originated in several places…leftover prescriptions, forged prescriptions, drugstore burglaries and residential burglaries where medicine cabinets are emptied. But he said he believes that most of the drugs came from people going to doctors “where they can get a pretty good supply of it”.

“It’s just become a new market,” he said. “It’s something that we are seeing more and more of. We were just surprised to see it it in Century. We were expecting crack cocaine and marijuana.”

On particular problem faced in the undercover Century investigation was Century’s small population, McNesby said. In an environment where most people know their neighbors, putting undercover officers into place is a difficult task.

“I feel that this is a great accomplishment for the city of Century,” the sheriff said, adding that about 48 percent of all sheriff’s department calls in the north end of Escambia County are within the city limits of Century.

“I appreciate what the sheriff and his department has done. We do have a problem. I have citizens calling the office and complaining every day,” McCall said of the investigation.

“We feel like it was very successful,” McNesby said. “It would not have been successful if we had not of had the cooperation of the mayor and his office up there because there are a lot of things we don’t know about a community.”