Twins charged after drug bust
King County prosecutors filed drug charges against 18-year-old twin brothers yesterday, almost three weeks after they were arrested in a drug bust along with three teens at Redmond High School.
The five — the brothers, two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old — are accused of selling cocaine, marijuana and the prescription drug OxyContin to a 22-year-old rookie police officer who enrolled at the high school in October as part of an undercover operation dubbed "School Check." They were arrested Nov. 21.
The three juveniles have pleaded not guilty. The 17-year-olds were booked into the King County Youth Center but have since been released, said prosecutors' spokesman Dan Donohoe.
The Seattle Times does not generally name juveniles accused of crimes.
Kevin Keane Tolbert and his brother, Sean Michael Tolbert, were released from the King County Jail on Nov. 26 as prosecutors reviewed the case against them, Donohoe said.
Kevin Tolbert was charged yesterday with three delivery charges, two for marijuana and one for cocaine, charging papers say.
In one instance, he sold pot to the undercover officer in a school restroom while his brother and one of the juveniles acted as "lookouts," the papers say. On other occasions, Kevin Tolbert took the officer to a park near the school to sell him marijuana; he also drove the officer to one of the juveniles' houses to buy pot, according to charging papers.
He is also accused of selling cocaine to the undercover officer. In late October, Kevin Tolbert met the officer in a park and directed him to the house of one of the 17-year-old defendants. There, he opened the mailbox corresponding to his friend's house and retrieved "a tied-off sandwich baggie with a white powdery substance," charging papers say. He weighed out the drugs while seated in the officer's car, the papers say.
Though Kevin Tolbert apparently facilitated the sale of OxyContin to the officer, he is not being charged in that incident, according to charging papers.
Police say Kevin Tolbert was the school's apparent go-to guy for drugs: "Because I have had difficulty buying drugs, or even talking to other people who sell drugs at the school without Kevin's presence, I believe that Kevin is, in a manner of speaking, the hub of drug activity at the school," the undercover officer wrote in a report that was filed along with the charges.
Kevin Tolbert is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 24 and is expected to be booked into the King County Jail that day, Donohoe said. Prosecutors contend that he "represents a significant, ongoing threat to the community, in general, and Redmond High School students in particular" and will ask a judge to set bail at $25,000, charging papers say.
Kevin's brother, Sean Tolbert, was more of a facilitator in the drug deals and was charged yesterday with two counts of criminal solicitation, the papers say. In addition to acting as a lookout, he drove his brother to meetings where drugs were sold to the undercover officer, charging papers say.
"Sean Tolbert, though involved in the sales of marijuana, appears to be a peripheral player whose activities include bringing buyers and sellers together, and otherwise facilitating marijuana transactions," the papers say.
Sean Tolbert is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 16. Because he was only peripherally involved, prosecutors will not object to releasing him on his own recognizance, the papers say. The papers also say Sean Tolbert appears to be eligible for participation in the King County Drug Diversion Court Program, where defendants receive drug treatment in lieu of prison.
Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com