Bucks Co. Sheriff's Office Aids In Large Raid, 37 Arrests Made

With reporting by Marlene Lang of Patch

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — The Bucks County Sheriff's Office aided Philadelphia, Delaware County, and Chester County law enforcement along with Pennsylvania State Police in a huge sweep of fugitives across the region.

Multiple departments over several days brought in more than three dozen who had outstanding warrants for violent crimes and weapons offenses, the Chester County Commissioners' Office reported.

"This weekend, residents of the greater Philadelphia area slept a little safer, thanks to a collaboration among the Chester County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO), Sheriff’s Offices of Delaware and Bucks counties, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Philadelphia Police Department, the FBI, and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, all coordinated by the Sheriff's Office of Philadelphia’s Fugitive Warrant Unit and Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal," Chester County's Commissioners said in a news release.

In a multi-day raid in Philadelphia ending Friday morning, law enforcement officers and deputies arrested 37 persons with warrants for violent crimes and gun offenses. They also seized weapons and ammunition. No injuries were reported, the Commissioners' news statement said.

Recovered in the operation targeting 176 persons with warrants were an AR-15 rifle with four fully loaded magazines, one double-barreled shotgun loaded with 10 rounds, one 9mm handgun loaded with 13 rounds, another 9mm handgun, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, 13 jars of marijuana, and 87 marijuana plants worth $400,000, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

"Fighting crime must involve collaboration, because crime doesn’t pay attention to geographic boundaries," said Chester County Sheriff Fredda Maddox.

"By working together with the many law enforcement agencies involved in ‘Operation Priority Takedown’ to take the most dangerous people and their weapons off the streets, our extended community is better protected. This is yet another way that our county’s deputies put their lives on the line for the safety of our community."

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