Officers Commended for Major Drug Raid in Southwest

A half-dozen members of the Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were honored last night for their roles in a major drug raid in the Greenleaf Gardens public housing complex last month.

MPD First District detectives David Adams, Michael Murphy and Shayne O’Bannon, along with officers Ryan Orgel and Michael Kasco and ATF special agent Susan Whitlock, received “Officer of the Month” awards for helping secure the arrests last month of nine suspected members of a drug ring.

First District Commander Jeff Brown presented the certificates and said they were a “small token of our appreciation.”

“These officers did an outstanding job,” he said.

MPD, ATF and Drug Enforcement Administration officials raided a home on the 200 block of N Street SW on April 15, finding drugs and three semi-automatic handguns.

Authorities also seized $4,191 in cash, $400 in counterfeit bills, liquid codeine and 45 small bags of cocaine, court documents show. Ammunition, several smartphones, digital scales and drug packaging materials were discovered as well.

Surveillance cameras recorded members of the alleged crime ring entering the CVS on the 1100 block of 4th St. SW and stealing bottles of the antihistamine promethazine, which contains codeine.

Officers said they recognized two of the suspects on the video as members of the Greenleaf Crew, a group that operates out of Greenleaf Gardens.