The Webster County Sheriff's Department made a number of felony drug arrests earlier this month.
Five people were arrested late April 11 and early April 12 on charges of sale of a controlled substance. The arrests were made by Deputy Sheriff Tim Allen.
Charged were Huey Lee Yates, 45, of 505 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive; Roy N. Coffee, 46, of 610 MLK Jr. Drive; Charles Everette Gary, 56, of Route 3, Box 308; Lenwood Johnson, 40, of Southwood Acres, Apt. 6; and Ivy Burnworth, 41, address unavailable.
Affidavits that Allen filed against them in Justice Court allege that each of the accused sold crack cocaine to a confidential informant of the WCSD: Yates on March 21 on Westwood Drive and April 10 on Gifford Street; Coffee on April 10 on Gifford Street; Gary on March 20 on Judenary Road; and Johnson and Burnworth on April 11 at Southwood Acres.
Justice Court Judge Rebecca Ellison has set bonds at $20,000 each for Yates and Johnson, who are charged with two counts, and $10,000 each for the others. However, she later revoked Gary's bond because he is awaiting prosecution in Circuit Court on a previous charge of selling crack cocaine. He was arrested last August in that case.
Ellison has also appointed public defender Steve Wright to represent each of the defendants. Coffee and Burnworth are out on bond while, in addition to Gary, the others were still in the county jail as of Monday.
Additionally, a 44-year-old male who was arrested the same night on a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia has since been released on bond.
The names of those arrested on the drug charges had been covered with white tape on the public jail docket at the sheriff's office as of April 13. Sheriff Phillip Smith said the names were being concealed temporarily until a related investigation was completed. He indicated that release of the names at that time could hamper the investigation. The tape had been removed Friday.
An April 17 Progress-Times article gave incorrect times and dates that the concealed arrests occurred between. They occurred between arrests made at 10 p.m. April 11 and 6 a.m. April 12, which are when the preceding and following viewable arrests were made
The report also incorrectly stated that eight names were concealed when the number was actually seven. In addition to the aforementioned five felony arrests and one misdemeanor arrest, another arrest was listed during that time for sale of a controlled substance.
However, the docket includes this April 13 entry by that person's name: "released-charges dropped." That person will not have to appear in court on the charge, Smith confirmed. Because the charge was dropped, the Progress-Times is not publishing that person's name.
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