Published: December 23, 2007 04:07 am      

Suspected drug dealer nabbed

By Kelly Young

kyoung@jacksonvilleprogress.com

The Jacksonville Police Department executed a narcotics search warrant Friday morning, resulting in the arrest of a Jacksonville woman who had allegedly been selling drugs from her home.

The drug bust occurred at approximately 9 a.m. Friday, in the 800 block of Wilkens Ave.

“Catreba Bradford, a 34-year-old black female, was arrested at her residence and charged with delivery of a controlled substance, which is a second-degree felony,” said Detective Daniel Franklin. “We had been receiving a lot of calls recently about suspected drug activity at that location, and after we did some surveillance we discovered that narcotics were in fact being sold there.”

The police confiscated a “sizable” amount of crack cocaine from the building and roughly $400 in cash, which JPD believes was used to purchase drugs.

According to Franklin, the department had been investigating that area for several weeks, but finally received enough information to obtain a search warrant Friday morning.

There were several other occupants in the residence at the time, but they were not charged during the bust. According to Franklin, the investigation is ongoing and it is unknown if further charges will be added.

“We’ve been focussing pretty strongly right now on the sale of narcotics, and not just in this neighborhood. We are currently investigating any leads we receive to see if we can’t make arrests in some of these drug cases,” he said.



Businessman arrested again

Brent Hallford, the Jacksonville businessman arrested in November for credit card and debit card abuse, was taken into custody by JPD again Wednesday afternoon. He was arrested at his place of business at approximately 3 p.m.

“An investigator with the U. S. Postal Service has been working closely with Detective Tonya Sonntag over the last few weeks regarding Hallford’s business practices. The postal inspector was able to obtain a federal search warrant, for his business on South Jackson Street, to obtain items related to his business,” Franklin said. “Several documents and computers were seized, and are being investigated by the postal service. Hallford was arrested at that time on a JPD warrant for forgery.”

Franklin said the new charge stems from a case in which Hallford is believed to have used a counterfeit cashier’s check during a business transaction.

“As far as the police department is concerned, I do not believe we are investigating him further. The postal inspector’s office has not filed federal charges against him yet, and once they finish investigating the items seized with the search warrant it is a possibility that they will,” he said.

Bond was set at $25,000, and Hallford bonded out.