Back in June we gave you the exclusive news of a new program that aimed to give low-level, non-violent drug dealers a choice: use the community's help to clean up and stop dealing, or face the full force of the law for their activity.
That program got underway last week when eighteen dealers were invited to a meeting at Langston Hughes and given that choice. Now three of the eighteen are facing drug charges for failing to live up to their end of the bargain.
Gerald Allen Cowles, 39, attended the intervention meeting last week and agreed to suspend his drug sales activity. However, he was picked up again the next evening with a crack pipe and is now being prosecuted for his original offence, which stems from two controlled buys that were observed by police on May 13th. First, at 5:50pm, he allegedly sold $40 of crack cocaine to a witness who was cooperating with police. The transaction occurred in the witness's car after Cowles and an un-indicted female accomplice retrieved the drugs from an apartment in the 700 block of 24th Ave. The same witness allegedly purchased another $40 of crack from Cowles after picking up him and the female accomplice at 24th & Pike, driving them around to get some chicken, and then dropping them off again at the apartment in the 700 block of 24th Ave.
Cowles has had forty warrants for his arrest in the past 20 years, and has two previous felony convictions for drug posession. He is held in the King County Jail on a $5,000 bail.
Nekea Marie Terrell, 30, aka "Meeka" and "Kiki", was invited to attend the meeting last week but declined. She allegedly sold $100 of crack to a police witness in SeaTac on April 15th, and again sold $130 of crack to the same witness on May 1st. Terrell has had fourteen warrants for her arrest since 1997 and three previous drug delivery and possession convictions. Moore is not currently in custody. Although it's not specified in court documents, it is assumed that she was in the program due to previous drug activity in the 23rd Ave corridor.
Matthew Moore, 40, also declined to attend the DMI meeting last week. He now faces drug charges from a controlled buy operation on May 15th, where he allegedly sold $50 of crack to a police witness at 24th & Union. He has had 20 arrest warrants since 1988, and previous convictions for possession, delivery, theft, property destruction, and criminal trespass. Terrell is not currently in custody.
All three suspects are scheduled for arraignment on their charges later in the month.