Tosa Police Shut Down a Drug House – in Milwaukee

Based on a broader investigation of drug dealings that spilled over into Wauwatosa – the details of which are still under wraps – Tosa police in turn spilled over the border into Milwaukee and shut down a marijuana dealing operation there.

On July 2, the Tosa PD's Special Operations Group went to a Milwaukee residence and took three men and a woman into custody on the scene after their knock at the door was answered and they presented a search warrant.

One man was able to convince officers he was just there visiting, and as he had no drugs on his person or in his car, he was released.

Another man who did live at the house claimed no knowledge of drug dealing operations there and, although a small amount of pot was found in his room, there was no evidence on his phone or computer of drug messages. He was also set free but told that he might yet face criminal charges.

But one man and the woman, who are in a romantic relationship, were arrested on suspicion of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and with maintaining a drug trafficking place – both felonies.

The woman tried to persuade police that she also was innocent of involvement in drug dealings from the house, saying she had been going with her boyfriend for about a month and staying at the house a few days a week, knew about his dealings, but tried to stay out of them.

A search of her car turned up a very small amount of pot, but a search of her phone showed multiple text messages in which, according to police reports, she was clearly setting up marijuana sales, as well as broadcasting pictures of marijuana to prospective buyers.

Her boyfriend was straightforward. He told officers he'd been smoking pot from an early age and had been dealing for years, first in small amounts and then increasingly as he developed more customers.

For awhile, he acknowledged, he'd been quite the source, buying and selling a quarter-pound of high-grade marijuana every day, at a considerable profit, to a host of customers.

But, he said, he'd backed off quite a bit of late after his bulk supplier got busted. He also told police that the friend he had moved into the Milwaukee house with had died there a year ago of a heroin overdose – which was confirmed by Milwaukee police reports.

He said he had lately been buying about an ounce of pot every day or two from a new source and was down to about 20 customers for grams and fractions of ounces – making only about $40 a day on his business.

Police found stashes of marijuana all over the house, one of a couple of ounces and many of just a few grams, plus all the accoutrements of a dealer, including digital scales, packaging, labels, seven small smoking pipes and one rather large bong.

They also found evidence that the house might next have become a pot-growing site, if it hadn't been before. There was a cache of a half-ounce of marijuana seeds and books and materials on growing pot at home.