The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

News Summary

Cocaine bust sets Butler County record

By Chris Dumond, Middletown Journal

HAMILTON — Area police made the biggest cocaine bust in Butler County history earlier this week, arresting three Hamilton residents and seizing two pure kilograms of the drug.

Although unimpressive to the eye — each cocaine brick measured about 12 by 6 by 2 inches and weighed 2 1/4 pounds — the drugs have an estimated street value of $500,000 and could have supplied more than 5,000 sales, Hamilton Police Chief Neil Ferdelman said.

Cedrick Chandler, 27, of 640 S. 11th St., was arrested in the bust and charged with felony possession of cocaine. Police said Chandler is likely to face more charges as the investigation continues.

According to Ferdelman, police from Hamilton to Cincinnati had been investigating Chandler's alleged drug-dealing activity for a long, but unspecified, time.

Police said Monday's raid and subsequent arrests were triggered by a call from the Regional Narcotics Unit — a Cincinnati-Hamilton County drug enforcement task force — that Chandler had picked up the drugs in Hamilton County and was on his way back to the 11th Street home.

The house was raided at

4:30 p.m. Monday by the Butler County Sheriff's Office SWAT team. Police said they found the cocaine along with small amounts of marijuana and cash. Also arrested at the home were Donald Gilbert, 27, of 225 Park Ave., and Delisa Givens, 30, of 920 S. 11th.

Gilbert was charged with drug trafficking. Givens was arrested on two outstanding contempt of court warrants.

Capt. Katie McMahon of the sheriff's office said the amount of cocaine seized at Chandler's home far outweighs what police usually find.

"Two kilos is the largest amount here in Butler County that we've seen," McMahon said. "Lots of times we see ounces that are taken off of bricks or broken down into smaller quantities, but this is a large, large amount."

It's also rare to find large pure quantities of the drug, police said. Drug dealers typically "cut" or stretch pure cocaine by adding other substances to increase weights before selling it on the street.