Two arrested, northeast Gainesville house seized

Published: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at 7:32 p.m.

The Gainesville Alachua County Drug Task Force seized a house on Wednesday and found large amounts of cocaine, marijuana and cash as well as two firearms, according to Gainesville Police Department spokesman Officer Ben Tobias.

The task force served a search warrant around noon on the house at 1031 NE 8th Ave., Tobias said, and Gerald Richardson, 30, and Marcus Chatman, 26, were arrested. Both men list the raided house as a home address on arrest records.

During the search, the task force located two firearms, a report said. Chatman told police he purchased the guns for between $500 and $600 and used them for protection, police said. Chatman was previously convicted of a felony narcotics violation, so on Wednesday he was arrested on a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Also, officers reported finding about 185 grams of marijuana in the house, and Richardson was arrested on a charge of possession with intent to sell.

Tobias said additional evidence, including the cocaine, was still being processed and analyzed, and additional charges may be pending. Task force members also found stolen items in the house, Tobias said, so the GPD Special Operations Unit responded. Officers said the occupants may have been trading drugs for the stolen goods.

This was the first raid of the year for the task force, Tobias said, and it generally does about 50 a year. Occupants of the house were distributing the drugs, he said, but not making them on the premises.

Both Richardson and Chatman were in the Alachua County jail on Wednesday night.


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