cannabisnews.com: Penny Candy Mixes with Marijuana At Store!





Penny Candy Mixes with Marijuana At Store!
Posted by FoM on June 30, 1999 at 11:57:17 PT
By Brian Christopher Intelligencer Journal Staff 
Source: Intelligencer Journal
Penny candy payoffs to children was the practice for a city man arrested Friday morning in his Lancaster grocery store for dealing marijuana along with other sundry items, police said.
Alex Cruz, 30, of South Christian Street, was arrested in Puti's Grocery, 336 S. Christian St., as he was about to complete a sale for a bag of marijuana, a Lancaster County Drug Task Force spokesman said."We were real pleased with his arrest," said a member of the city's Drug Suppression Unit, which assisted with the service of a search warrant.His bail was set at $250,000 on the latest drug charges and he was taken to Lancaster County Prison, the spokesman said.Local police were very familiar with the illegal antics of Cruz because of previous brushes with the law. In 1994, while petitioning the city to allow him to start a pizza parlor on Green Street, he was arrested for dealing heroin, according to police and newspaper records.Charges in that case were filed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and Cruz is still on federal probation in connection with that arrest, the spokesman said.The zoning request for the restaurant was withdrawn three days after his arrest in August 1994, according to newspaper records.Police said the latest contact with Cruz began several months ago when neighbors complained about the small store."We were getting calls every week about that place," one detective said.But the investigation got a little tricky because Cruz allegedly recruited neighborhood children to keep an eye out for police, "Five-O" in street vernacular."Whenever a kid would see a cop and yell "Five-O" he would toss them penny candy," a detective said.There was a mixed reaction from residents as officers arrived at the store about 11 a.m., with a search warrant, police said."We got some horns honking and thumbs up, but there was some yelling, too," an officer said.Once the badges got inside the store, they didn't have to look far for the evidence."He was doing a deal right there. He was about to hand over a bag, then he saw us and tried to stuff it in his pocket, but I caught him," a task force member said.Behind the counter, another 51 small bags of marijuana were ready for sale, police said.Another man arrested in the store, Daniel Rivera, 24, who recently moved to Lancaster from Philadelphia, was also charged with possession with intent to deliver and was taken to county prison in lieu of $250,000, police said. http://www.lancnews.com/intell_news/drugzj26.htm
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