Drug raid at YHS nets 6
students, 1 adult
— Sierra Star/Cathie Campbell
Yosemite High School
students apprehended in a drug raid on Wednesday morning are patted down before
being loaded into a van. The sting
operation was the result of an undercover on-campus investigation that lasted
for three months.
In the first drug-related
undercover “bust” in about seven or eight years at Yosemite High School, five
students were apprehended Wednesday morning by Madera County Narcotics
Enforcement Team (MADNET) agents and deputies from the Sheriff’s Department.
One other student was picked up
at Ahwahnee High School and another had been previously arrested by California
Highway Patrol on an unrelated charge and was booked in Tulare County.
One adult, Daryn Wilson, 19, of
Coarsegold, was also involved, and was taken into custody for selling drugs to
students.
Yosemite High School officials
accompanied the officers to various locations on campus where the students were
attending classes. The students were handcuffed and escorted to the front of
the school, where a van awaited them for transport.
After questioning, they were sent
to the Madera County Juvenile Hall where they spent the night. The Probation
Department will decide what steps to take from there.
The students that were seized
were all identified by an undercover agent as having sold drugs on the school
campus. About 15 or 16 buys were made by the agent.
Three months long
The operation culminated a
three-month long investigation of the campus drug activities.
Drugs being sold included
marijuana, Adderall, Ritalin and morphine tablets. Adderall and Ritalin are
commonly prescribed for treatment of ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder).
There was no methamphetamine or
cocaine involved in the raid. The dollar figure for the illegal drug sales
amounted to approximately $400.
The Yosemite Joint Union High
School District sets forth a mandatory recommendation for expulsion of students
involved in illegal drug activity on campus, say Bill McCabe, district
superintendent, and Curt Campbell, alternative education principal.
“It could have been a lot worse,”
says Sheriff-Coroner John Anderson. “Because of having a deputy on campus
(Officer Roy Broomfield), there were not as many arrests made as there would
have been otherwise.”
Cooperation
“Another reason things are better
now is due to the openness and cooperation of Yosemite High School staff,
especially Bill McCabe and Steve Raupp (YHS principal).
“It’s rare that police get that
kind of openness,” Mr. Anderson adds.
The appreciation goes both ways.
“From the school’s standpoint,”says Mr. McCabe, “we appreciate the support of
Sheriff Anderson and his staff for helping to suppress drugs on campus.”
The students who were involved in
the drug dealing will not only be subject to expulsion from school, they will
also be subjected to the legal system, beginning with Juvenile Hall, as
mentioned before.
The adult offender and the two
students from Evergreen and Ahwahnee high schools had not yet been apprehended
at the time of the YHS sting.
Erica Stuart, newly-appointed
public information officer for the Sheriff’s Department, mentioned that
Wednesday happened to be the first anniversary of a successful and significant
drug bust that occurred at Chowchilla High School.
Dozens of YHS students that were
in the process of changing classrooms at the time the agents and officers were
still on campus got a chance to see that drug-related activity at the school
results in big trouble.
One student walked past the van
and assembled officers on the way to his next class, loudly repeating, “The
good kids are on their way to class!”
“One of the things that impresses
me most,” says Ms. Stuart, “is that this was one of the promises Sheriff
Anderson made back during his election campaign. “He single-handedly brought on MADNET to work with the Sheriff’s
Department and had it not been for that move, we probably wouldn’t have made as
many serious drug arrests as we have.”
Also on the scene was Deputy
Chris Swanson with the K-9 unit’s newest officer, “Clancy.” Clancy was combining a chance for some more
training with an opportunity to get out of his kennel and get a little exercise
on a nice spring day.
Sheriff Anderson was pleased with
the day’s operation, and when asked if he thought the drug bust “sent a message”
to the students of YHS, he said, “The message is, kids shouldn’t be involved
with drugs in the first place.”
Thanks to the cooperative efforts
of diligent law enforcement agencies and representatives of Yosemite High
School, that message is becoming all the more clear.
—————
The reporter can be contacted at
683-4464; e-mail: ccampbell @ sierrastar.com