Five arrested in drug busts

More than 3 lbs. of pot seized with DEA assistance

Five people were arrested and more than 3 pounds of marijuana were confiscated during a string of related drug busts Thursday.

The arrests began in the afternoon and continued into the night.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency was in Crescent City to serve a federal search warrant at a house on the 300 block of Lauff Avenue, and during a stake-out DEA agents witnessed a transaction between two suspects that led to the other arrests, said Del Norte County sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Morris.

The first two people arrested were Kevin Paul O’Sullivan, 28, of Crescent City, the resident of the Lauff house, and Dustin Thomas Steel, 22, also of Crescent City.

Morris said agents witnessed Steel place a backpack into the trunk of a car after a hand-to-hand transaction with O’Sullivan.

“We had information that Mr. Steel was transporting marijuana to Cave Junction, Oregon, and he would be travelling with Mr. O’Sullivan,” said Morris.

“We also were led to believe marijuana was being sold from that location,” he said about the Lauff home and the reason for the search warrant.

Deputies began following a vehicle driven by O’ Sullivan at 2 p.m. until it reached the turnoff for the Jedediah Smith State Park campground.

After the vehicle was pulled over, O’Sullivan said he did not have a driver’s license, so authorities searched the vehicle.

Morris said a deputy “could smell a strong odor of fresh marijuana coming from the car.”

He said just over 2 pounds of processed marijuana was found in a backpack in the trunk.

O’ Sullivan and Steel were arrested on suspicion of possession of marijuana for sale and sale or transportation of marijuana.

O’Sullivan is also suspected of being a felon in possession of a firearm after a weapon was found during a later search of his home, Morris said.

Authorities again staked out the Lauff house after the pull-over, and the first person to come by was Joseph Gartland III, 21, of Hiouchi, said Morris.

Gartland was interviewed at around 7:30 p.m. and during a pat-down search, 14 grams of hashish and 2 grams of marijuana buds were found on him, Morris said.

Fifty grams of marijuana were found in a plastic bag in the trunk of Gartland’s vehicle, Morris said.

An hour later, Geoffrey Allen Norris, 31, of Cave Junction, drove up to the house with a passenger, Amber Joyce Woody, 22, of Crescent City, Morris said.

Norris did not have a driver’s license, so authorities searched his vehicle, Morris said, adding, “I confronted him with a flashlight and he covered something up in between the seats.”

Authorities said they found a half-ounce of marijuana on top of a loaded .357 magnum. Paraphernalia and a 5-gallon plastic bucket with “a little over a pound” of marijuana were found in the back seat, Morris said.

Norris was arrested on suspicion of possessing a loaded firearm in a vehicle during commission of a felony, sale or transport of marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and criminal conspiracy, Morris said.

Woody was arrested on suspicion of  the sale or transport of marijuana, possession of concentrated cannabis (hashish) and criminal conspiracy, Morris said.

All five people arrested claimed to be medical marijuana patients, he said, but none had a 215 card or doctors’ reccomendations when arrested.

Reach Adam Madison at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it