Operation Wildfire: More Than 2 Dozen Arrested In Chester County Drug Bust
By Alicia Nieves and Jim Melwert
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (CBS) -- A two-month crack down on heroin dealers in Chester has netted 46 arrests, but District Attorney Tom Hogan says what was known as "Operation Wildfire" is also giving county officials a snapshot of the opioid crisis.
"Sometimes you got to set a fire to stop a fire, which is what we did here," said Hogan. "We took a bunch of our drug cops and had them for two months do nothing but go after heroin dealers and opioid dealers."
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The operation took out street-level drug dealers in every region of Chester County, said Hogan.
Among those arrested the father of a man who made headlines last month for and unprovoked attack against a man with cerebral palsy.
"So while his son was beating up a man with a disability, Barry Baker Senior was selling us morphine. It's a heck of a family," said Hogan.
Police who headed this operation say while it was aimed at low-level drug dealers, it's meant to send a bigger message to those pushing pills and deadly drugs in the county.
"We may have only just scratched the surface with the numerous arrests that we made with this operation itself may be coming to an end, but can I assure you our combined efforts will continue, we will work together and we are not done," said Phoenixville Police Chief Thomas Sjostrom.
Hogan says in 2015 there were about 60 overdose deaths in Chester County, in 2016 that shot up to 97, he says after the first four months of 2017, the county is on pace for 150 deaths.
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Hogan points to several reasons for the rise, including:
"Generation Addicted meets fentanyl," he said.
Hogan says synthetic fentanyl is flooding in from China, and just a few grains can be deadly, but it's a cheap and easy way for dealers to cut heroin. And Hogan says, for millennials, opioids have always been a way of life.
"You take a 17-year-old and you give them 30 days of oxycontin because they've had their wisdom teeth out, pretty good chance you have just created an addict that is going to end up on heroin," said Hogan.
Hogan says they were able to buy heroin in every part of Chester County, with most of it coming through Philadelphia.
The county hasn't yet quantified yet how many pounds of drugs were actually taken off the streets.
