Record seizure of PCP cited for recognition

by Joseph M. Giordano

    The  North Point Police Community Relations Council has chosen Nicholas Mabry as its Officer of the Year for 2008.
    Unlike in most years, Mabry, who was the council’s Officer of the Month in April 2008, was nominated for one case in particular and not a collection of arrests throughout the year, according to council president James O’Toole.
    A simple drug bust led to the breaking up of a PCP ring between Dundalk and Prince George’s County, O’Toole said.
    “In this community, PCP is a very dangerous and serious drug,” O’Toole said. “We felt that this officer  was responsible for getting  a substantial amount of the drug off our streets.”

    The bust led to the seizure of 14 ounces of liquid PCP worth $5,300. When mixed with an ounce of parsley flakes, the substance is worth $22,400, making it the largest PCP  haul in the North Point Precinct’s history, according to Mabry’s nomination form.
    Throughout March 2008,  Mabry was working with the Baltimore County Police Department’s narcotics unit after a man he had arrested in Veterans Park for selling a small amount of PCP  reportedly turned informant, the forms said.
    Using information from the informant, police set up three buys in Logan Village Shopping Center on April 7, 14 and  28, the documents said. 
    Three Prince George’s County men – Kevin Young, 20, Raymond Washington Jr., 38, and Reginald Young, 40 – were arrested at the scene.
    After checking with Prince George’s authorities, Mabry found that all three men were wanted on previous drug charges, the nomination forms said.
    A search of Washington’s home in Prince George’s County turned up more PCP, marijuana, handguns and various drug paraphernalia, according to the forms.
    All three men remain in the Prince George’s County Detention Center awaiting trial in Prince George’s County Circuit Court on drug charges for possession of PCP, possession of marijuana, possession of narcotics with intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to the Maryland Court Case Database.