Police: Drug raids will make Rainier Beach safer immediately

SEATTLE — Police said Tuesday's raids, which broke up a major drug operation, are expected to have an immediate impact upon public safety in Seattle's Rainier Beach neighborhood.

The area has been particularly plagued by violence this year, with multiple homicides and shootings. At a news conference, officials blamed members of a drug gang that spread far beyond the neighborhood.

“A couple of months there it was like, do I even want to go to work?” said Bernadette Hopkins, who was on her way home from her job Tuesday afternoon.

Prosecutors said 43-year-old Herman Roche led a ring that sold thousands of doses of illegal prescription drugs like oxycontin.

Indictments handed down Tuesday were based on wiretaps and other surveillance.

“In this criminal enterprise, he was the man, he was the top,” FBI special agent in charge Steven Dean said. “He was the head dog and we took the head dog down.”

Prosecutors said Roche was part of a group that hung around Maya’s Restaurant in Rainier Beach, though police emphasized that neither staff nor the owners are involved in any illegal activity.

“We are confident that the arrests of these individuals is going to really help play a significant role in making those neighborhoods and our streets much safer,” Seattle deputy police chief Nick Metz said. “Particularly for those folks who live in those communities.”

Hopkins said she was taking those assurances with cautious optimism.

“If the drug raids do make it better, I agree with it,” she said.

Metz said he doesn’t believe anyone arrested Tuesday is involved in any of the city’s unsolved homicides from this year.

KIRO