Four arrested, one more sought in Baltimore 'drug takedown'

BALTIMORE -- Four people have been arrested in what's being called a "drug takedown" in the Baltimore.

The investigation was a collaboration between the Baltimore Police Department, the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office, as well as the Mayor's Office.

At the announcement of these arrests Monday, city leaders called this a big win for all involved. 

However, they noted it's also a big win for the city's Group Violence Reduction Strategy, which just expanded this year to the area where this takedown happened.

Ivan Bates, Baltimore City State's Attorney, said the investigation into this drug trafficking organization started in January. 

A tip came from a neighbor in the Shipley Hill neighborhood.

Over the next few months, investigators monitored the organization, which operated out of two homes on the 300 block of South Franklintown Road. 

National Guard helicopters were used to keep an eye from above, and undercover officers were used to buy fentanyl from the organization.

By April, indictments were issued for five people: Desean Parker, Jadin Wingate, Dane Kennedy, also known as Danna Kennedy, Michelle Taylor, and Kenneth Davis, also known as Kenneth Waddy.

Davis/Waddy remains at-large. 

The five are also said to be tied to violence in the Shipley Hill area.

"We recovered a half kilogram of fentanyl, which can kill thousands of people. We were also able to get a gun off the street," Bates said.

Bates, as well as every other city leader present at Monday's announcement, said takedowns like this will continue happening to criminals in Baltimore.

"Those who continue to perpetrate a culture of violence in our city will be held to account and brought to justice," said Police Commissioner Michael Harrison. "We will continue to work together to dismantle organizations that add to our nation's opioid epidemic and destroy our neighborhoods through drugs trafficking and gun violence."

Also getting the spotlight at the announcement: the city's Group Violence Reduction Strategy, or GSVR. It just expanded into southwest Baltimore in January.

GSVR is managed by the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, or MONSE. 

Shantay Jackson, MONSE's executive director, said this investigation shows the strategy's progress.

"As of yesterday, we've seen a 30-percent aggregate decrease in homicides and nonfatal shootings year-over-year, since the activation of the southwestern district in January," Jackson said.

MONSE, as part of the strategy, is now looking at what neighbors in Shipley Hill need in terms of services and other resources.

If you know where Davis/Waddy is, please call police immediately.