Miller nabbed for dealing drugs near school
Operation Cleanup has netted another alleged drug kingpin, this time targeting a man authorities say sold crack cocaine just yards from Bobby Ray Elementary.
The suspect, William (Bro) Miller, 24, is charged with five counts of sale of crack cocaine. Two of the counts involve sale of cocaine within a school zone, increasing them to Class B felonies which carry 8 to 12 year sentences to be served at 100 percent.
According to District Attorney General Dale Potter, the school zone sales were made at the cleanup shop Auto Expressions located next to Bobby Ray Elementary, well within the 500 feet radius covered by the school zone law. Lawmen say several buys were made at the shop during the undercover operation, although the shop’s owner, Robert Wood, denies any knowledge of drug activity there.
The drug dealers were not employees of the shop. Miller made sales to agents from April through June, including a sale of over .5 grams of crack on one occasion, which also constitutes a Class B felony.
Investigators pointed out Miller was one of the more aggressive of the crack dealers, often approaching the operative to sell drugs before the undercover agent could make a buy off other drug dealers.
“It was getting so we couldn’t buy off anyone else if he was around because he’d come up and try to sell to our agent before anyone else,” Potter said, noting Miller was “one of the big fish” caught in Operation Cleanup.
While relatively young, Miller has a long history of drug convictions beginning with a crack cocaine conviction here in 1998 where he received four years. He was also convicted the same year for dealing crack cocaine in Rutherford County, adding four more years on to his total. He was on parole from the pair of convictions when he was arrested for his most recent offenses.
Along with Miller, four more suspects were arrested this week as the roundup for Operation Clean up continues. Among those arrested were Amanda Gail Smartt, 24, and Misty Beth Martin, 23, both charged with selling a counterfeit substance. The women reportedly sold a substance to the agent, claiming it was meth; however, the substances proved not to be drugs.
Kenny Lee Pack Jr., 23, was arrested on the charge of sale of meth and sale of marijuana while Dusty Cope, 20, was arrested on the charge of sale of marijuana. The suspects will appear for arraignment before Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley on Sept. 27.