Drug Traffic Filled Driveways -- But Prime Duvall Suspect Eluded Police Task-Force Net

DUVALL

As narcotics detectives raided a house on Big Rock Road on Friday, so many drug buyers continued to pull into the driveway that the police chief said the place looked like a drive-in restaurant.

Police Chief Glenn Merryman finally asked officers to park two marked patrol cars on the street near the driveway to scare the would-be buyers away.

The scene was similar at a house on Northeast Kennedy Drive, where exasperated neighbors had complained for months about drug-dealing.

"There was a constant flow of cars up and down - beat-up pickups, kids' hot-rod cars," said David Rarig, who has lived across the street for four years.

However, Capt. Bob Baker, commander of the Eastside Drug Task Force, said a prime suspect was not at either of the raided houses. He described that person as a "midlevel dealer."

Neither of the homeowners was present, either. Merryman said he would issue warrants for their arrests.

In Friday's bust at both houses, police say they found several ounces of cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine, and confiscated handguns, rifles and several thousand dollars. Twenty people were questioned, and six were arrested, including Duvall City Councilman Dave "Ernie" Zumwalt.

Zumwalt was the only one jailed. Bond was set yesterday at $10,000 for the 40-year-old councilman, alleged by Merryman to be a ringleader in the Duvall drug trade.

King County Deputy Prosecutor Ray Thomas said Zumwalt had been under investigation since he allegedly sold drugs to an undercover informer July 25.

He was not arrested at that time, and public defender Lorraine Roberts argued that his record - a 1974 burglary conviction - did not indicate that he was a danger to society.

Thomas argued there was more at stake. "This is one part of a very large investigation," he told Seattle District Judge Debra Hannula.

Still, Baker, whose Bellevue-based crew led the raids, earlier downplayed the bust. "In a dope case, on a scale of 1 to 10," he said, "this is about a 4, with the exception of there being a public official."

The task force, consisting of eight officers from Bellevue, Redmond, Issaquah, Kirkland, Mercer Island and King County, has seized drugs and property worth $4 million and made 97 arrests in the first six months of 1997.

In Duvall, however, the arrests were startling.

At a news conference yesterday, Merryman and Mayor Glen Kuntz said increased drug use among high-school students in the community led to the investigation.

"I know where the drugs went - to the children - and that's made me very angry," Kuntz said.

Merryman said Duvall police had been gathering information on local drug dealing for years but never had enough to make arrests. Undercover agents working for the past several months finally had enough evidence to launch Friday's bust.

Here's what Merryman said happened:

-- Law-enforcement officers timed the raids about 10 minutes apart. As they swept through the sites, some people at the house on Northeast Kennedy Drive jumped a fence to flee.

-- Of the 20 questioned - including a few who appeared to be high on drugs - three men and three women were arrested.

-- Shortly after the raids, officers spotted Zumwalt driving a gray van. Officers said they found two paper-wrapped packages of cocaine. Police estimated the cocaine was worth from $200 to $400.

-- Duvall City Councilman Tom Loutsis was a passenger in the van. He was arrested and later released. Merryman said Loutsis, 31, was never a target of the probe.

Kuntz questioned whether Zumwalt, who has served on the City Council for two years, should have held public office. His City Hall colleagues didn't know until yesterday that he had been convicted of residential burglary when he was 18.

He was the only one to file for his council position in 1995, although a write-in candidate opposed him. A city of Bellevue maintenance worker, Zumwalt missed at least six council meetings last year - more than any other member of the council.

Police said they expect to make more arrests in the case. Although many in Duvall, a city of 4,000, were surprised that an elected official was arrested in connection with drug trafficking, others said it shouldn't be a shock.

"This is just reality," said Sunny Ruthchild, owner of Garden's & SunSpaces art gallery. "It has nothing to do with their positions of power."

Merryman said, "I think we sent a message, . . . but there are others (dealers) out there. If they continue, they will eventually be caught. Drugs and Duvall no longer go together."

Putsata Reang's phone message number is 206-515-5629. Her e-mail address is: prea-new@seatimes.com Luke Timmerman's phone message number is 206-515-5695. His e-mail address is: ltim-new@seatimes.com Louis T. Corsaletti's phone message number is 206-515-5626. His e-mail address is: lcor-new@seatimes.com