Officials arrest 341 people, seize $1M in drugs during three-month operation
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- On an early morning this March, Houston police officers, members of the U.S. Marshals Office of the Southern District of Texas and deputies from the Harris County Sheriff's Department, gathered at a parking lot just off the Beltway at Beechnut.
They were preparing to arrest a fugitive.
"Daily, we get collateral leads from other districts and other cities," said Deputy Cameron Welch of the U.S. Marshals.
At that moment, the group was trying to locate Tamisha Morgan, who was a young woman with outstanding felony warrants out-of-state.
After a few hours of surveillance, they found her. She had just left a nearby motel, and was not happy when authorities placed her in handcuffs.
"I was just leaving my hotel room and going to the nail shop," said Morgan, who then looked at our Eyewitness News cameras with disdain. "I'm trying to figure out why, and why am I on camera."
Morgan would be just one of 341 arrests made during "Operation Triple Beam," a three-month joint operation led by the U.S. Marshals Office.
Eyewitness News was invited for an exclusive ride-along to see how this operation would unfold.
This operation was focused on southwest Houston and the main targets were gangs and drugs.
Each arrest having ripple effects on the rest of the community.
"By getting these individuals off the street, we don't just see one for one benefit," said HPD Captain Craig Bellamy. "Each arrest the gain is exponential. We arrest one felon, we prevent five to 10 to 25 crimes down the road."
As we learned in our exclusive ride along, there is never a typical day.
Minutes after arresting the young woman, authorities were running lights and sirens to the downtown bus station.
"You see how things happen really fast in these cases," said Deputy Welch.
At the bus stop, authorities quickly located Patrick Brandon who just got off an out-of-state bus.
"I didn't do nothing," Brandon said when we asked him why he was in custody.
In all, authorities arrested 341 suspects, confiscated 62 guns and seized $1 million during the operation.
