Police Break Tompkins County-Wide Drug Ring
Thirty-two people who took part in two drug rings ferrying cocaine from New York City to the local Ithaca area were charged by the Tompkins County grand jury, District Attorney Gwen Wilkinson announced in a press conference Friday. The ringleaders were Isaac Butler, also known as “Fee,” “Fee-Foe,” and “Big Man,” of Ithaca, and Charlie Watford, also known as “Man” and “Little Man,” of Brooklyn, NY.
Butler faces up to 24 years in state prison and Watford, 15. According to an article in the Ithaca Journal, the indictments allege that the rings were organized by tasks and assignments — including cocaine sales, distribution, and resupply and transportation. Some ring members were also assigned to gather intelligence on police activities.
Police Remove Potentially Mentally Unstable Man from home
Police responded to a 911 call at 8:07 a.m. from the neighbor of a man living in South Ithaca. The neighbor believed the man was behaving strangely.
According to a written statement cited in the Ithaca Journal, written by John Barber of the Ithaca Police, the man “made statements indicating he wanted to harm himself and then ceased speaking with the police and barricaded his door.”
A four-hour standoff ensued when the police arrived. After the police used pepper spray and negotiating tactics, the man left his home through the bedroom window at 12:10 p.m. In the written statement, Barber said that more aggressive tactics were taken with the man due to prevent the man from harming himself.
The man was taken in handcuffs to Cayuga Medical Center.
Candor Soldier’s Funeral this Week
Spc. Nathan P. Fairlie, 21, of Candor, a town 20 miles south of Ithaca, will be buried with full military honors Tuesday at Maple Grove Cemetery in Candor.
Fairlie died Jan. 26 in Baqubah, Iraq, according to the U.S. Department of Defense in an Ithaca Journal article. He was in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle when he was killed by an explosive device. In 2004, Fairlie graduated from Candor High School where he played on the football team as a linebacker.