Law enforcement agents make arrests in Harper County drug bust

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September 3, 2009

Law enforcement agents make arrests in Harper County drug bust

Anonymous The Woodward News Thu Sep 03, 2009, 06:46 AM CDT

The normal hush of the hard working community of Laverne was shattered late Wednesday morning by the blast of a flash bang device and the whirl overhead of a tactical helicopter in the largest scale drug bust to ever take place in the region.

According to Harper County Sheriff Marty Drew, it is the beginning of even more of the same kind of operation in an effort to crack down on drug crimes there.

At a few minutes past 10 a.m., law enforcement officers and agents from Harper County, District One Drug Task Force, Beaver County, Ellis County, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation, and Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Texas County stormed the home of 50-year-old Vincent Friis and two other homes in Laverne.

Friis’ home was located down the street from Laverne Elementary and High School, prompting - said Harper County officials who led the investigation - a temporary lock down.

“We wanted to avoid any school children from wandering past since it was clear to us that there were some firearms in that home too,” Undersheriff and lead investigator Derek Seevers said. “That was precisely why we waited until later in the morning to conduct this raid because there are also children living in the home and we wanted no children present.”

All of the homes are allegedly linked to the same drug ring that sparked the nearly two month long sting operation in which more than 20 controlled buys of methamphetamine were made within four weeks. The sting was carried out with the assistance of four confidential informants and undercover agents.

There was also a warrant served on one home in Buffalo belonging to 48-year-old Teri Bair -also allegedly linked to Friis’ suspected distribution ring. According to Harper County officers who conducted the sting, Bair was not at home when officers approached her home Wednesday morning. But she was later apprehended at the home of her parents who live north of Selman. Bair was arrested for allegedly selling drugs from her place of employment - The Harper County Journal - which is within 2,000 feet of a church as well as a day care, according to court documents.

All four of the homes, and possibly more in Laverne and Buffalo have been the center of a protracted and multi-agency cooperative investigation - code named “Caveman”. Operation Caveman links each home in what was allegedly becoming a larger and more organized drug ring, to a Friis’ garage, known as “The Cave,” where much of the drug distribution was witnessed, according to Drew.

“We began getting more and more calls from local residents here in Laverne about all the drugs coming from this home,” Drew said. “We still have more arrest warrants for at least three in Buffalo and more in Laverne.”

Arrested Wednesday morning were Vincent Howard Friis, 50, Dustin Shane Jones, 40, Quentin Martin, 33, Donald Lee Firth, 23 , Earl Scott Sailes, 28, Burke William Zollinger, 45, Katrina Whitson, 49, and Jimmy Calvert, 50.

Christopher A. Chase, 40, was apprehended later in the morning after being spotted running from a home not far from where officers stormed Friis’ home.

Still at large and being sought for drug crimes linked to Wednesday morning’s raid is one individual known as “Fred” whose last name is unknown but is described as a “white male, about five feet, 10 inches tall and routinely wears baggy jeans and his ball cap turned sideways.

According to the arrest warrant affidavits on file at the Harper County Courthouse, members of the alleged drug distribution ring are suspected of purchasing the methamphetamine from a dealer, a Hispanic male, who drives from Liberal, Kan. and allegedly delivers the drugs to Laverne. According to the affidavit, Friis and his accomplices conducted the majority of their distribution activities, including storage of methamphetamine from Friis’ garage that is behind his home on Jane Jayroe Blvd. Friis allegedly began distributing outside of his home when he feared that authorities were on to him.

According to the affidavit, Friis and his accomplices arranged to deliver and delivered one gram of methamphetamine to confidential informants who acted as “buyers” for law enforcement. The typical charge for one gram of methamphetamine is $100.

Drew and Seevers credit the massive amount of combined effort and support from all local law enforcement but especially thanks the District One Drug Task Force for supplying the needed funds to secure the evidence to make the arrests.

As Wednesday came to a close, Harper County agents had temporarily seized Vincent Friis’ Harley Davidson motorcycle and his GMC Suburban, Quentin Martin’s Honda motorcycle and Burke Zollinger’s Laverne home, which is situated on the eastern edge of the small city.

The items, if approved for seizure by court authorities, will be sold and the money placed back into the drug fund for future operations, Seevers said.

The event prompted quite a crowd in normally quite Laverne and elicited even more comments. But perhaps one characterizes the message Drew hoped to send to anyone who is considering setting up a drug ring in Harper County.

“You jack with the bull in this town, you’re gonna get the horns,” said Laverne resident Jody Bryant.

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