Published Saturday, August 31, 2002
after feds, cops make sweep
Herald Staff Writer
A helicopter flying over the Sharon-Farrell border at about 5 a.m. Friday was the first sign to residents that something unusual was going on in their neighborhood.
That's when one woman said she woke up and looked out her window to see police and federal agents swarming the house at 1312 Baldwin Avenue, Sharon.
That house was one of at least three raided by Sharon police and FBI, federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and Internal Revenue Service agents.
Federal officials would not provide any details about the raids but a neighbor said police and agents carried "bags and bags and boxes and bags" out of the house.
Police said three men face local firearm and drug charges as a result of the raids.
Mark Anthony Hopson, 30, of 1312 Baldwin, was arrested by Sharon police at 11:22 a.m. Friday on a charge of convicted felon not to possess a firearm, police said. He was arraigned before District Justice William L. Fagley, Greenville, and bail was set at $60,000. A clerk at Fagley's did not know if bond had been posted.
At the same time Hopson's house was being raided, more police and federal agents converged on the home of his cousin, James L. Hopson III, 29, of 1239 Cedar Ave., Sharon, police said. He was charged with receiving stolen property because he had a stolen handgun, police said.
James Hopson was arraigned before District Justice Henry J. Russo, Hermitage, and was released after he posted $50,000 bond, a clerk at Russo's said.
A third man, Romondo Oatis, 28, of 501 Pennsylvania Ave., Farrell, was also arrested Friday at his home on charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, police said. Oatis had what police called "an undetermined amount" of cocaine on him.
Oatis was also arraigned before Russo and released on $10,000 bond, a clerk said.
A neighbor of Mark Hopson, who asked not to be identified, said the neighborhood is generally "nice and quiet" but there has been "a lot of traffic in and out" at all hours of the day and night since Hopson moved into the neighborhood over a year ago.
"I come home from bingo at 2 a.m. and there's people going in and out," the neighbor said.
She said before Hopson moved in, the house was "just a little white house," but now it's been remodeled, expanded and there's a swimming pool in the back yard. "If you drive around the neighborhood you don't see many houses like that," she said.
The neighbor said she also saw police raiding another house up the street. "I bet there was more than 50 policemen and that down there. They were just all over," she said.
Police would only confirm raiding the Hopsons' houses.
Local law enforcement officials said they were restricted by federal laws and could not give out any more information.
Andy Hromoko, a public information officer with the criminal investigation bureau of the IRS, said the only information he could give is that agents were there on "official business."
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Pittsburgh also said he couldn't release any information.
You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Kristen Garrett at kgarrett@sharonherald.com