Beaumont Police, with the assistance of the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office, completed an extensive investigation that targeted illegal activity along the 11th Street Corridor near Interstate 10. The investigation began because of numerous complaints from citizens and businesses in the area.
The investigation consisted of patrol, surveillance, undercover, and sting operations to combat the prostitution and narcotics activities in the area. Officers were able to obtain sixty-two felony warrants and forty-four misdemeanor warrants against ninety defendants for offenses ranging from prostitution, possession of narcotics, to delivery of narcotics. All these defendants have been engaging in illegal prostitution or narcotic activities in this area.
Today, officers from our Beaumont Police Narcotics Unit, Special Assignment Unit, Patrol Division, Traffic Unit, and Auto Theft Task Force Unit were assisted by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the United States Marshals Service to locate and arrest the defendants named in the warrants.
Over the course of the six month operation, Investigators also determined that three commercial business along or near 11th Street were maintaining or knowingly tolerating the criminal behavior that has plagued the area. Today, in addition to serving the active warrants for the individual defendants, Investigators with our Special Assignment Unit and representatives from the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office visited with the owners of those three businesses. Today’s visit with these three business owners was to arrange formal meetings to discuss reasonable, voluntary measures that the businesses can use to address concerns and correct problems with the hopes of avoiding formal court action. If the business owners fail to comply with these corrective actions, they face legal action under the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. That legal action could lead to the businesses being declared a common nuisance and will subject the businesses to closure for a period of one year as well as possible fines and other penalties.
It is our hope that the arrest of these ninety suspects will offer some relief to the citizens and business in this area. We also hope that the businesses that were contributing to these illegal activities will cease to be a part of the problem and become a part of the solution to cleaning up this stretch of 11th Street.