VIEWPOINT
Despite criticism, components of system made a difference
By Wendell Hall Sheriff, Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Department

Hall

On November 28, David Darnell Johnson appeared in the Federal Court and was sentenced to Life in prison for the crime of Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Crack Cocaine. He also received 240 months on the charge of Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Offense to be served consecutively. Johnson has been the last of twenty-eight defendants so far to be sentenced in what became known as "Operation Knot Grippas."

The operation was conducted by an interagency task force over a period of eighteen months resulting in the arrest of twenty-eight offenders and the confiscation of twenty-two automobiles. Also seized were thousands of dollars in guns, drugs and c u r r e n c y . This investigation represented over 6,300 man hours and was the largest and most successful combined operation of its kind ever conducted in Santa Rosa County.

I would like to personally commend not only the staff from the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office but all officers from the other agencies who participated in this extensive operation. Together they did an outstanding job removing dangerous criminals from the streets of this county. But the initial investigation and arrests was only part of the system that brought justice to the county. The Federal prosecutors also worked diligently in bringing the defendants to court and upon a finding of guilt the Federal court handed down appropriate sentences to a group of offenders that had a total disregard for the law.

In the past there have been numerous criticisms concerning the deficiencies of the criminal justice system, but this is one time that each and every component of the system cooperated and made a difference.