After an undercover investigation dating back to August, Wauwatosa police have put away a Milwaukee man who was dealing large amounts of cocaine and heroin, according to their reports.
The suspect is not being named, as he has not yet been charged, although multiple counts of possession and possession with intent to deliver both Schedule I narcotics are expected soon.
In the bust, police confiscated more than half a pound of cocaine and 1½ ounces of heroin, as well as nearly $10,000 in cash.
According to the reports:
After another unidentified man was arrested and charged with lesser drug-related crimes last summer, he elected to turn confidential informant in exchange for reduced charges for himself. His only condition – he would work only with Wauwatosa police.
His supplier was a Milwaukee man, he told Tosa investigators, although his ring of buyers and secondary dealers stretched into Waukesha County.
One narcotic, then another – maybe
The informant was wired and provided with buy money and sent on a mission to purchase heroin. He did, and came back with two grams, which tested positive.
Another buy was arranged in September, in that case for one-quarter ounce of cocaine. Again, a deal went down outside a house on the north side of Milwaukee.
The investigation was slowed when field tests for cocaine proved inconclusive, and samples had to be sent to the State Crime Lab for more rigorous testing.
In the meantime, another undercover deal was arranged in November for a half-ounce of cocaine. That buy went down smoothly, too, with the wire recording evidence of the transaction. Samples were again sent to the Crime Lab.
Results from the Crime Lab were positive for "the presence of cocaine" in the samples – all the evidence police would need, but by no means a sterling endorsement of the quality of the dealer's goods.
Finally, another cocaine buy was set for Feb. 21, this time with a hidden video camera recording every detail of the exchange. Another quarter-ounce was handed over to the informant, and the deal was captured on tape.
A lot, but not that good a product
On Feb. 25, police were following the suspect when they believed he realized he was being tailed and tried to accelerate away. He was pulled over and consented to a search, which initially turned up nothing.
But other Wauwatosa police officers were even then executing a search warrant they had obtained for two residences the suspect was known to inhabit. In one, they found only a small amount of drugs. In the other, a lot of drugs and more than $9,000 in cash.
The suspect's car was impounded and, for good measure, a K9 officer was tasked with sniffing it out. More drugs were discovered.
All told, 236.54 grams of cocaine (just over half a pound) and 44.77 grams of heroin (about 1½ ounces) were recovered from the suspect's two residences and his car – exclusive of the amounts bought in the undercover operations. More than $9,000 in cash was also taken in.
As a side note, detectives noted that a rather large, half-empty jar of Inositol powder, a dietery supplement, was found in association with the cocaine.
Inositol is a harmless substance often used to "cut" cocaine and stretch a dealer's profits, the police reports say, a practice drug dealers call "stepping on" the product.
Apparently, this suspect was stepping on his product so hard basic "reagent" field testing couldn't find what he was purporting to sell.
