Investigators Say Drug Lookout Fell Asleep

Jefferson County SWAT officers say a lookout who fell asleep on the job helped them break up a high security drug operation.

They say 18 year old Eric Leveige was supposed keep watch. The teen and 20 year old Hope Bishop now face the possibility of jail time for what investigators call their role in a drug operation led by 33 year old Gerald Montgomery Elam.

At 4 a.m. Thursday drug officers used a stun grenade to begin their raid in the one thousand block of 53rd Street in Port Arthur.

In a white house on 53rd street in Port Arthur, 5 pit bulldogs guard the backyard.

In an early morning raid, Jefferson County SWAT officers found what they were guarding.

A stun grenade shocked the drug dealers.

Officers made their way inside to videotape the elaborate security system. A television monitor was hooked up to cameras positioned all around the house.

The men used cameras for surveillance around the house. Officers say entry would have been much more dangerous if the man responsible for keeping watch had not been asleep.

"It could have been a different situation if that subject was on the couch awake with the weapons he had on him," said Lt. Troy Tucker of the Jefferson County Narcotics Division. "Plus with a security camera he could have seen us coming."

The SWAT team found two shotguns, two handguns, thousands of dollars, marijuana and crack cocaine.

"We're going after drug dealers," said Lt. Tucker. "Especially the ones near schools."

Officers say the man they call the ringleader, Gerald Elam, could face federal charges.

He was selling drugs within a thousand feet of Wheatley Elementary School.

"These people, they don't care," said Lt. Tucker. "They don't care about the kids. They're selling their product right across from them. You know, their neighbors had to put up with it."

These officers say it pays to keep watch after hours.

Even drug dealers need to sleep.

If convicted, Gerald Elam could face up to five years in federal prison.

The teen and the woman face up to 2 years.

SWAT officers left the bulldogs with plenty of food and water.

They say they'll continue to check on the animals.