TodayCocaine ring busted
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Article RatingSeveral employees of the State Correctional Institute at Camp Hill are among suspects accused of participating in a multi-million dollar drug ring smashed by "Operation Broken Toy," Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett announced at a news conference today.
Corbett said police believe the ring distributed 53 kilograms of cocaine and crack cocaine with a street value of $5.2 million over the course of the investigation.
Corbett and the District Attorneys of Cumberland, Dauphin and Lancaster counties said that 12 of 14 individuals who have been linked to the ring have been arrested and are currently awaiting trial.
One of the remaining two has been in contact with police and is expected to turn himself in today; the other is still at large.
Harrisburg residents Idris "Mooch" Smith, 29, and Juan "Papa" Sanchez, 33, appeared to be at the center of the ring, Corbett said, with Sanchez allegedly making weekly trips to New York City for cocaine and crack cocaine. Smith, who worked at the correctional center, was the main distributor, police said.
Police said two other employees of the state correctional institution, Brian Harris, 41, of 137 Wheatfield Lane, Shermans Dale, and Sherry Bretzman, 42, of 921 West Trindle Road, Mechanicsburg, bought cocaine from Smith to use themselves and distribute.
Harris was Smith's supervisor.
Police also said Bretzman received money from fellow employee Roxanne Price, 50, of 1550 Williams Grove Road, Mechanicsburg, to purchase cocaine.
Corbett said the investigation began in May 2006 and explained that the "toy" in its name is the street term for scales used to measure cocaine.
Involved with the investigation were agents from Corbett's Bureau of Narcotics Investigation (BNI), as well as members of the three counties' drug task forces.
For more on the story, see Thursday's Sentinel.
