As part of an ongoing focus on quality of life issues, an early morning drug raid by the CCPD has shut down a problem drug house near City Hall.  At approximately 0545 hours, the Corpus Christi Police Department’s Narcotics Vice Investigations Division, assisted by the CCPD S.W.A.T team, served a search warrant at 110 Josephine.  This warrant was the result of a lengthy investigation brought about by neighborhood complaints and was a joint effort between NVID investigators and CCPD uniformed patrol officers, who collaborated to shut down this neighborhood crack house and dealer. 

During the search of the residence, officers found and seized a small amount of crack and powdered cocaine, approximately one ounce of Synthetic Cannabinoid and a small quantity of marijuana.  Also seized was a new in the box Remington 870 shotgun which is suspected to be stolen pending contact with the registered owner.  Officers also confiscated $1867.00 in cash, believed to be the proceeds of illegal drug sales.  A quantity of paraphernalia used for the making of crack cocaine, drug scales, multiple cell phones, and the surveillance system that was being used by the suspect were also seized.      

Suspect Ruben Vallejo (6-23-89) was arrested and charged with First Degree Felony Manufacture/Delivery of Controlled Substance in Penalty Group 2/2A and Second Degree Felony Manufacture/Delivery of Controlled Substance in Penalty Group 1.  Felon in Possession of a Firearm, Possession of Marijuana and other charges related to the recovered firearm are pending further investigation at this time.   

This successful operation was yet another example of an innovative collaboration between the Department’s Uniform Division and NVID to attack neighborhood drug dealers who degrade the community’s quality of life.  Under this program, Officers from the Uniform Division are temporarily assigned to the NVID, where they learn advanced narcotics investigations techniques such as conducting surveillance, managing informants, drafting search warrants, raid planning, and search warrant execution.  Patrol Officers bring a problem drug house from their assigned beat with them to NVID, where they are then paired with a NVID Investigator to attack the problem.  This joint response to neighborhood quality of life issues results in an all-around win for all involved, except, of course, for the drug dealers who fall into the team’s sights.  Patrol Officers return to their division with advanced training, skills and knowledge, NVID benefits from the additional resources and street level intelligence, and most importantly, the residents and business owners of the neighborhood are freed from the blight of neighborhood drug dealers.