Posted on 01/29/2004 9:56:29 AM PST by ClintonBeGone
The 80-year-old grandfather slowly made his way up to the judge, with gray, thinning hair, a gray beard, deep wrinkles and stiff joints -- the oldest man to walk into a Grand Rapids courtroom charged as a crack dealer.
Curtis Beeks Sr. is facing felony charges of delivering crack cocaine and maintaining a drug house after vice officers raided his family's Southeast Side home.
He is the oldest drug dealer arrested in the city since crack moved into Grand Rapids in the late 1980s, perhaps the oldest ever, said vice unit leader, Lt. Richard Nawrocki.
"How the drug business has evolved, there's not a whole lot that's surprising anymore," Nawrocki said. "But that is surprising."
Police officers raided the Beeks house, at 811 Lafayette Ave. SE, on Friday, the third time they hit the house in 1 1/2 years, Nawrocki said.
They found a small amount of crack cocaine, but no weapons or large amounts of cash, Nawrocki said.
They also found Beeks in charge. Several others were in the house when it was raided, but Nawrocki said he was not sure whether they were customers or friends. Police also arrested a woman for cocaine possession.
"Eighty years old. That's bad," said a woman living in the area who suspected drug activity at the house. "Maybe he's doing it to make money, keep his heat on. Some people don't have Social Security."
Nawrocki said police had received complaints about the alleged drug house for two or three years, but it was the first time they arrested the elder Beeks in a raid there.
"I don't know whether he took over for somebody else ... or how he ended up in this particular matter," Nawrocki said. "He was the resident and occupant of that location, and crack was being sold."
Beeks was held at Kent County Jail for two days before bonding out on Sunday, according to jail records. He was arraigned Wednesday in Grand Rapids District Court on charges of possession with intent to deliver less than 50 grams of cocaine and maintaining a drug house. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison.
Wearing a plaid shirt and a baseball cap, he left the courtroom with his son, Curtis Beeks Jr., who said his father, whom he described as retired, had nothing to say.
Records show Beeks has not been in trouble for years. More than a quarter-century ago, when he was 54, he was ordered to pay fines after a misdemeanor assault conviction in Grand Rapids, state police records show.
The run-down, two-story home at Lafayette and Franklin Street is owned by the junior Beeks, who bought it for $28,185 in July 2003, according to Kent County records. A "no trespassing" sign is posted next to the front door.
Neighbors said they knew little about Beeks, who kept to himself.
"He should be out of that business," said a neighbor who asked not to be named. "It's something I wouldn't be doing if I was 80, or if I was 50 or 40 or 30, or any age at all."
The woman said she wasn't surprised someone at the house was arrested.
"There's a lot of young guys in there," she said. "They're in there all day and all night. The place never closes."
Nawrocki said police won't handle Beeks any differently because of his age.
"We're going to go through the process. What happens to him will certainly be up to the courts as far as sentences. Our goal is to prevent him from doing it again. Whatever the sentence may be, our goal is to not let it start up again."
We'll never stop illegal drug use with this kind of attitude.
I can guess: "Home-based business for sale. $28,000 MOL. Two story, needs work. Highly profitable. Heavy traffic. Take over existing clients."
LOL Well, Grand Rapids is the home to Amway.
LOL Yah, he needs the crop reports to set the market price for pot.
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