CLARK COUNTY, WA (KPTV) -
Authorities have been busy tidying up the streets of Vancouver.
The Clark-Vancouver Regional Drug Task Force identified 31 drug dealers operating in Clark County as part of a drug trafficking investigation.
The investigation, code named Operation Spring Cleaning, began in the Fall of 2011 and targeted people dealing drugs in Clark County neighborhoods.
Many of the drug transactions took place in the parking lots of fast food restaurants, shopping centers and out of homes.
"We found in this investigation that many of the drug dealers, while not necessarily working together, knew each other and had been in the drug dealing business for quite some time," said Commander Mike Cooke of the Clark-Vancouver Regional Drug Task Force.
During the course of the investigation, drug task force detectives working undercover, purchased numerous drugs including heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, oxy pills and marijuana.
"Some of the dealers bragged that they were a one-stop shopping source for any drug we wanted to buy," said Cooke.
Several of the undercover buys involved large amounts of drugs.
One pill purchase involved more than 100 oxy pills.
The largest deal involved 1.25 pounds of cocaine.
In that transaction, suspects Tami Stein of Clackamas and Alvaro Parra Campos of Portland brought the cocaine to the Hazel Dell Fred Meyer parking lot on a busy Saturday afternoon, investigators said.
Of the 31 people identified, authorities have arrested 17 suspected drug dealers.
The drug task force is still looking for 14 more people including:
Becky Kassner, 28, Vancouver
Joshua Galipeau, 38, Vancouver
Charles Dickens, 43, Vancouver
Robert Audette, 44, Vancouver
Bryan Eastham, 40, Vancouver
Scott Eastham, 40, Vancouver
Nicolas Bates, 43, Vancouver
Phillip Latimer, 31, Vancouver
Lavonna Fast, 34, Vancouver
Nick Nukala, 25, Vancouver
Dylan Digiulio, 36, Vancouver
Thomas Price, 34, Vancouver
Patrick Kelly, 57, Vancouver
Anyone with information regarding the location of these individuals is asked to call the Clark-Vancouver Regional Drug Task Force tip line at 360-397-6017.
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Clark County Sheriff's Office
