Feds bust seven with wiretap

A federal Grand Jury returned a nine-count indictment this morning against seven people accused of trafficking cocaine.

According to Patrick H. NeMoyer, United States Attorney for the Western District of New York, the indictment is against Antonio Maurice Cobb, Jarvis Tyrice Cobb, Eugene Laron White, Karma Jackson, Lawrence Lewis, Evelyn Walcott, and Lloyd Bell, charging them with, among other things, conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine in the Western District of New York.

The maximum penalties faced by the respective defendants is 40 years incarceration or life imprisonment.

The accused live in Sodus Center, Webster, Ontario, Williamson, Rochester and Florida. Bell and Lewis are still at large in the Miami, FL area.

The organization, operating primarily out of Wayne County, is alleged to be run by brothers Antonio and Jarvis Cobb and their cousin, defendant Eugene White. The powder cocaine was transported to upstate New York where the organization would convert it to crack cocaine. The alleged sources of supply in Florida are Lawrence Lewis and Lloyd Bell.

As a result of a wiretap investigation of the organization, law enforcement officers learned that a shipment of cocaine -- one kilogram (2.2 pounds) -- was arriving at Rochester International Airport from Florida on June 30. That day, law enforcement officers met the flight and arrested, among others, defendant Evelyn Walcott, 67, of Florida, who was in possession of one kilogram of cocaine concealed inside her luggage.

Defendants Antonio Cobb, Jarvis Cobb, Eugene Laron White, and Karma Jackson also were arrested that day. Search warrants executed at those defendants' residences resulted in the seizure of, among other things, approximately $21,000 in U.S. currency, rocky, hard cocaine, and narcotics paraphernalia including scales, plastic baggies to hold crack cocaine, and razors to cut crack cocaine.

The investigation was conducted by local, state, and federal agencies - Wayne County Sheriff's Office, New York State Police, Ontario County Sheriff's Office, Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Guard, Cayuga County Sheriff's Office, United States Marshals Service, and Internal Revenue Service.

Pictured at press conference is Captain Fisher of the State Police, showing photo of an aerosol can, in which cocaine was concealed. There were two cans confiscated at the Rochester airport; each contained one-half kilo worth $100,000. (J. Zornow photo)

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