Skid Row drug dealer arrested one block from police station

One of the more curious manifestations of dysfunction in the  downtown area has been the presence of a free market area for criminal  enterprise in the vicinity immediately surrounding the Los Angeles  Police Department  (LAPD) Central Division, in which law enforcement is  made difficult because of the sheer number of illicit activities  being  committed in that particular locale.
For Sam Flemming, 50, formerly  a resident at the Volunteers of America housing complex on Skid Rows  Wall Street, the benefits this arrangement afforded ran out this past  April 10th as police arrested him near Fifth and San Julian for drug  trafficking.
Acting on an anonymous tip, police observing him  exchange rock cocaine or crack with local homeless addicts for small  bills and change, police apprehended him and later confiscated $135,000  wrapped in trash bags and 1.5 pounds of cocaine in his apartment,  including the $11,000 he had when taken into custody.
Reached by  phone, the LAPDs Lt. Paul Vernon told Our Weekly that during the 18  months that the Safer Cities Initiative has been in place, a  see-sawing effect has been noted in the areas Narcotics and Property  arrest rates.   Observing that $6,000 of the money appropriated from  Flemming, the subject of eight previous felony arrests, was in the form  of coinage along with $11,000 in single one dollar bills, Vernon reasons  that much of the suspects trafficking involved indigents using funds  gained from panhandling from well meaning individuals attempting to  assist the less fortunate.
With all of the numerous non-profit and  relief organizations in place including Volunteers of America,  commodities such as food are plentiful and contribute to a sophisticated  barter system in which addicts may exchange sandwiches or other  merchandise for currency, with which they can purchase illegal drugs.   Vernon stressed that assistance should be given in the form of donations  to recognized establishments rather then cash given directly to  individuals on the street.
As this article went to press, Flemming  was still incarcerated and awaiting adjudication.