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For the second time within one month a convenience store in Gray was raided by Terrebonne deputies, who accuse its temporary manager of selling crack cocaine from behind the counter.
The manager’s mother remains jailed for allegedly selling synthetic marijuana there, after her arrest as part of a series of raids throughout the parish in July.
“You’d think these people would learn that they can’t be selling drugs that are going to harm our kids and get away with it,” said Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter, as his drug agents searched behind the counters of the Fast Stop-n-Go on West Main Street last Thursday, across Bayou Terrebonne from H.L. Bourgeois High School.
James Yost, 34, was booked on three counts of distribution of crack cocaine, violating a drug-free zone and completing transactions involving drug proceeds. The drug-free zone charge was lodged because of the store’s proximity to the school.
The suspect’s mother, Karen Yost, was arrested in connection with synthetic marijuana trafficking July 8, as part of a nationwide crackdown orchestrated between local law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Two other convenience stores in Terrebonne were also raided in that operation and remain shut down. The West Main Street store remained operating, however. Based on information developed in the earlier investigation, Larpenter said, drug agents made purchases of crack on the premises from James Yost.
Warrants were issued on the basis of that work, and were executed last week.
Agents converged on the store, surprising Yost as well as several patrons. In the store with the suspect was a woman identified as his girlfriend, who was not charged with a crime, and his son, a toddler. The child alternately cried, giggled and cooed as deputies in bulletproof vests quizzed his mother about the drug operation. She supplied no information, however.
Yost sat behind the counter, handcuffed, as deputies searched for drugs. Their search, along with one conducted by Deputy James Scales and his K-9 partner, a retriever named Scotch, turned up no illegal drugs on the premises. But three $100 bills that were used in the earlier transactions were seized.
The arrest was made on the basis of the earlier transactions, deputies said. Illegal drugs did not have to be in the store on the day of the raid for action to be taken.
Yost offered no resistance when the deputies arrived.
As he watched them conduct their searches, he said, “I ain’t done nothing wrong,” then refused to answer questions from a deputy, saying he wanted to be represented by an attorney.
Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office drug agent Neal Blades talks with alleged crack dealer James Yost following his arrest of the convenience store manager last week.
