A tip that drugs allegedly were being sold out of a local restaurant leads to a late-night raid and 13 arrests.
NBC 4 reported with the FAST FACTS from New Albany police.
New Albany police started investigating reports of someone selling cocaine out of the Don Patron Restaurant at 9745 Johnstown Rd.
Chief of police Mark Chaney said undercover officers were able to make several small cocaine purchases during a five-month investigation.
Detectives were able to set up and complete a purchase of 2 kilos of cocaine on the city's West Side at about 6 p.m. Thursday.
Three people were arrested, including 31-year-old Don Patron Assistant Manager Christian Garcia, 26-year-old Omar Jimenez and 28-year-old Ricardo Rodriguez.
Jimenez and Rodriguez are not restaurant employees.
Ten more people were arrested on a variety of charges when police raided the restaurant at about 8 p.m.
Police also seized several vehicles in the bust, and the restaurant was shut down.
Chaney told NBC 4 the 13 people arrested are undocumented.
"It just shows that drug trafficking can occur in any community. It doesn't matter how big or how small you are," Chaney said.
"This started with a small tip that there was quantities of drugs being sold out of here and that there had been liquor-law violations, staying open too late, serving alcohol – things like that. And after we were able to do our undercover investigation, we certainly found out those tips were absolutely true," Chaney said.
Customers inside the restaurant during the raid were not charged for their meals.
"We were not going to try to process their charge cards and charge them for their meals," Chanel said. "We kind of interrupted their dinner as it was."
The bust also led to fire code and zoning violations, along with liquor violations.
Customers and nearby businesses said the bust was a surprise.
"I just didn't think they'd be doing something like that," a customer said. "We've eaten here several times and I am surprised they were doing drugs out of here."
Amber Cunningham, who styles hair at the nearby Saturday's Hair Salon, said she was very surprised by the charges.
"When I saw that, I was very shocked -- very shocked. I never would have expected anything. You didn't want to assume that they were illegals," Cunningham said.
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