Summary– the Sammamish Police Department and King County Sheriff’s Office have arrested five people after a six-month long investigation revealed suspects were using and then selling cocaine at a Papa John’s Pizza while working there. (C16055216)
In December 2016, the Sammamish Police received information that employees were selling cocaine while at work at the Papa John’s Pizza located in the 700 block of 228th Ave Ne. The employees went out to the parking lot of the Papa John’s business to make the transactions. Undercover detectives were sent into the business and were able to buy drugs from two different employees for a total of four separate drug buys.
Eventually, one of the employees introduced the detective to other drug dealers in Bellevue and Sammamish. Over the course of the investigation, detectives were able to buy drugs from those individuals too.
This morning around 6:00 detectives from the Sammamish Police Department, Bellevue Police Department and the King County Sheriff’s Office conducted search and arrest warrants at locations in Bellevue and Sammamish, including the Papa John’s Pizza in Sammamish.
The search warrants netted; $28,000 in cash, a vehicle and drugs including; cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana, Oxycodone, LSD and methamphetamine.
Arrested were 21 and 26 year-old men from the Bellevue search warrant address of 15100 block of SE Newport Wy, an 18 year old man at a house in the 100 block of 242hd Way SE in Sammamish and a 19 year old man arrested at a house in the 1500 block of 204th AVE NE in Sammamish. The final outstanding 18 year-old suspect turned himself in to Sammamish Police at the police station later in the day.
Detectives said when they conducted the search warrant at the Papa John’s Pizza they used cocaine swabs to detect the presence of cocaine on surfaces. Cocaine residue was found on surfaces inside the restaurant, including the cash register and sanitary wash areas of the business.
Detectives contacted King County Public Health who worked with Papa John’s on clean-up procedures. Sammamish detectives re-swabbed the food prep areas at the request of the business and found no cocaine contamination.
