Friday, October 10, 2003

By Torsten Ove, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

At 5 a.m. on Aug. 30, 2002, residents in the Idaho Street area of the neighboring Mercer County towns of Farrell and Sharon woke up to the sound of a helicopter overhead.

When people looked outside, they saw police blocking off streets, a state police chopper in the sky, and agents from the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI raiding four homes.

The searches were part of "Operation Idaho," a five-year investigation into rampant drug dealing centered in the neighborhood at the border of the two small towns that has since generated federal charges against 19 people.

At the heart of the conspiracy, federal agents say, was the Hopson family, and yesterday its first member was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 88 months behind bars.

Eric Hopson, who is in his 20s, asked U.S. District Judge David Cercone for leniency despite his long criminal record.

"I'm not a bad person," he said. "I never hurt no one. I don't feel as if I'm a threat to society."

Cercone disagreed, saying drug dealing hurts society, but in the end the judge did give him a slight break.

Hopson had pleaded guilty, but he may be the only family member to do so. The rest of the clan, including his mother, Sarah Hopson, who watched from the gallery, have indicated they plan to go to trial.

Sarah Hopson, 61, and another son, Mark Hopson, 32, were indicted in May along with a cousin, James L. "Jake" Hopson III, 29.

According to the IRS and the FBI, the Hopsons ran a cocaine distribution network from 1995 through 2002 and laundered their money through their mother.

Mark and Sarah Hopson used $16,000 in drug money, for example, to make a down payment on a 2001 Yukon Denali, and they used $12,000 to pay outstanding child support bills that Mark owed. Sarah Hopson also spent $23,500 on household goods, while Mark Hopson spent more than $90,000 on household items, according to the indictments.

In addition to the drug charges, Mark Hopson faces an illegal gun possession count because agents say he had a gun during the Aug. 30 raid. As a convicted felon, he isn't allowed to have a gun.

On the day of the raid, residents in the neighborhood flocked out of their houses, some with camcorders and binoculars, and told reporters they were glad police and federal agents had finally gotten rid of the Hopsons and their cohorts.

Homeowners said the neighborhood, which had been targeted for a cleanup under the Weed and Seed program, was usually quiet but had suffered from drug dealers coming and going at all hours.

Those days appear to be over.

"It used to be you couldn't walk down Idaho Street because of all the drug dealing," said Sharon resident Linda Gassner yesterday after being told of Hopson's sentencing. "The Weed and Seed program is working."

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