GRANITE FALLS — A two-year investigation into drug trafficking here culminated Friday with the expected arrest of more than a dozen people, including a former mayor.
Among those arrested Friday was Floyd “Butch” DeRosia who held the city’s top elected post for two years until he resigned in 2003 amid harassment allegations. No charges have been filed.
Police said they expect to arrest at least 15 more people in the coming days.
Granite Falls police officers worked undercover with detectives from the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force and confidential informants. They made a series of controlled drug buys in the past two years, seeking probable cause for the arrests, officials said.
“I don’t know if we won the war,” Granite Falls Police Chief Tony Domish said. “Today we won the battle.”
He said drug problems in the town have diminished significantly in the past five years, and with today’s arrests, Granite Falls is a far better place to live.
Domish would not comment about the people arrested, except to say that the investigation targeted those who were selling drugs.
Police on Friday also shut down what they believe was the last operating drug house in the city. Officers were seen removing what they said were illegal drugs, drug scales and drug paraphernalia.
“This is the last of the worse,” Domish said. Three other homes were already raided during the investigation.
The man and woman who lived in the home raided Friday were arrested. Their 11-year-old son was expected to be transferred to state custody.
Next door neighbor Alecia Stevenson, 26, said she was pleased to see police try to rid the neighborhood of drug traffic.
“My children will be allowed to ride bikes outside finally,” she said.
Drug use in Granite Falls has been on the national media’s radar since January 2003, when Rolling Stone magazine published a feature article about methamphetamine and its effects on small communities.
The story, written by a New York-based journalist, was the first to tag the town as “Methville,” a term the writer said Granite Falls schoolchildren used for their community.
The label resurfaced over the years despite the reality that most of the meth available in Snohomish County today is high-quality “ice,” produced in Mexico.
“We don’t have any more drugs than any other community,” Domish said.
Granite Falls Mayor Sheikh Haroon Saleem said he learned of the planned arrests on Thursday.
He’d hoped that it would be low key.
“It was my desire not to have the media involved,” he said. “We do need to make the arrests.”
Saleem won his seat in a close election last fall. He beat Lyle Romack, a former city councilman who had been appointed to fill DeRosia’s seat in 2003. DeRosia that year stepped down as mayor after two city employees filed complaints against him.
Drugs have been scarce in Granite Falls, especially in the past six months, Domish said.
“We know we have made a significant difference,” the police chief said.
Police also plan to seize vehicles and other property, including at least one home, Domish said.
Cmdr. Pat Slack of the regional drug task force said his detectives often help smaller jurisdictions in a variety of ways.
“Granite Falls is trying to tackle this problem that they have,” Slack said. “We just have to wait and see what the end result is.”
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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