Published: June 04, 2009 03:41 pm      

Cracking down on dope

Orange man arrested for drug possession

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office continued the combat on drugs recently and it led to an arrest.

Mark Allan Thomas, 25 of Orange, was arrested at about 6:41 p.m. Wednesday for possession of marijuana after officers executed a narcotics search warrant at 6210 Cormier Road in Orangefield.

A misdemeanor amount of marijuana was located at the residence when officers arrived. Officers also found assorted drug paraphernalia, scales and other contraband. The items were seized as evidence.

Detective Chad Hogan with the OCSO said the office has been pleased with the amount of arrests that have been made in regards to drug activity.

“We have been taking a lot of drugs off the streets,” Hogan said. “We have been arresting quite a few people and are starting to get a lot of tips off Crime Stoppers. That is one of the biggest keys to all this. We don’t care who is calling in with the tips as long as they are calling.”

Hogan stressed anyone with information on drug activies can call EasTex Crime Stoppers at (409) 724-TIPS. Callers will remain anonymous and can earn a cash reward for the information provided.

“We expect to continue to get more calls during the summer,” Hogan said. “We have been pleased with the number of calls but we always want more. We have five narcotics officers so those guys have stayed pretty busy. Our patrolmen are also arresting folks for narcotics.”