Catching a big one
Cooperative search nets major drug suspects
By DAVID LOWE Staff Writer

PHOTO BY DAVID LOWE Texas Department of Public Safety Narcotics Service and SWAT agents work around an armored vehicle as law enforcement teams prepare to serve a federal search warrant Tuesday near Oakalla. The cooperative effort, joined by the Lampasas Major Crimes Assistance Unit and Burnet County Special Operations Unit, resulted in three arrests on drug possession charges.

A distraction explosive smoldered on James Patrick Trunk's front porch late Tuesday afternoon as Texas Department of Public Safety Narcotics Service agents filed in and out of his house, looking for evidence. As a DPS SWAT unit packed up to leave, Trunk sat handcuffed in his back yard with his Dalmationbull terrier mix at his feet.

The arrest of a suspected major narcotics supplier had taken just minutes.

The Lampasas Major Crimes Assistance Unit and Burnet County Special Operations Unit joined DPS agents and SWAT personnel to serve a federal warrant at Trunk's residence, 1000 Burnet County Road 221, east of Oakalla near the Bell County line.

Although prepared to face gunfire and storm Trunk's residence, DPS personnel spotted the suspect mowing his back lawn. Narcotics agents subdued and arrested him in his yard as SWAT unit members set off a "flash-bang" distraction device -- which creates a thunderous blast and a bright flash to disorient building occupants without shrapnel -- and cleared the house before the evidence search began.

James Trunk

The SWAT unit cleared the Trunks' home and two sheds in less than three minutes, Major Crimes Investigator Charlie Boswell said.

Trunk, 45, and his wife, Susan Trunk, 43, face charges of possession of a controlled substance, more than 50 grams and less than 100 grams. Both Killeen residents were released Wednesday from the Burnet County Jail to U.S. marshals.

In addition, Kempner resident Gerald Brown, 42, was arrested on a third-degree felony charge of possession of a controlled substance, more than one gram and less than three grams. He remained in the Burnet County Jail as of press time Thursday.

Some charges are pending, and officials expect to arrest additional suspects.

Susan Trunk

The Tuesday operation followed more than a year of investigation by the Major Crimes Assistance Unit and DPS Narcotics. Rickye Feist, Major Crimes sergeant investigator for DPS Narcotics, obtained the search warrant from United States Attorney Johnny Sutton's Western District office in Austin.

"It's critical that we work with these other agencies cooperatively," Lampasas County sheriff-elect David Whitis said. "Taking somebody like this out of circulation really makes an impact on drug sales in our area."

After more than a week of planning the arrest operation, law enforcement teams met midafternoon Tuesday in Lampasas, where SWAT members started the unit's armored vehicle, secured to a trailer. SWAT and Narcotics Service agents donned helmets, vests, knee pads and other protective equipment, and they organized rifles, distraction explosives and grenade launchers capable of firing "bean bag" rounds, rubber bullets, tear gas and explosives.

The DPS units and county law enforcement then traveled by caravan to Cactus Creek subdivision -- where roads, but no homes, have been built -- four miles south of the intersection of U.S. Highway 190 and FM 2657. There the SWAT unit, the first to storm the Trunk property, positioned itself inside a van as Narcotics Service agents climbed into the armored vehicle.

Gerald Brown

With a DPS helicopter securing and monitoring the area, the caravan proceeded toward Trunk's residence after staging in the subdivision. Whitis followed near the end of the procession and had to turn around just before the Lampasas River bridge on FM 2657, as Brown and another person left Trunk's house in a blue Infiniti car.

Expecting Mrs. Trunk to be driving a blue vehicle, DPS agents called Whitis, saying they thought the Trunks had left their property. Whitis pulled the driver over on the side of FM 2657 at the intersection of Cove Ranch Road, less than a mile beyond the Lampasas County line in Burnet County.

An investigation revealed narcotics stashed in the Infiniti, where Brown was a passenger.

Evidence discovered in the Trunks' residence included approximately 50 to 57 grams of methamphetamine -- both in small, "eight-ball" bags and a larger container -- about an ounce of marijuana, three handguns, seven rifles and slightly more than $1,500 cash, Major Crimes Investigator John Seery said.

The narcotics have been field tested, and investigators are waiting for official weights and analysis from the DPS Narcotics lab. The methamphetamine has an estimated street value of $9,000 to $10,000, Seery said.

Officials also are checking to see if the guns are stolen property.

The grant-funded Lampasas Major Crimes Assistance Unit in March also helped DPS Narcotics officers and the Copperas Cove Police Department arrest two suspects in Coryell County on charges of cocaine possession, Whitis said. The case has been turned over to federal authorities, and the suspects remain in federal custody in Waco.