11:13 p.m.: Police: Barber dealt cocaine from shop

By Shawn McGrath

September 05, 2008 11:13 pm

— ANDERSON — A businessman who once bemoaned on a monthly radio program and in a newspaper story about the lack of programs to keep children off drugs has been arrested for allegedly dealing cocaine from the barbershop he owns.
Members of the Madison County Drug Task Force arrested Lester K. Wright, 36, owner of Lester’s Barbershop, near the intersection of 16th and Henry streets, at the business shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday.
Prosecutors charged Wright with five counts of dealing cocaine, all Class A felonies punishable by 20 to 50 years in prison if convicted. He’s also charged with maintaining a common nuisance, a Class D felony that carries a possible sentence of six months to three years behind bars, for allegedly selling the drug from his previous barbershop location in Edgewood Plaza.
On Nov. 19, the monthly WHBU-AM 1240 program “Takin’ It to the Street Beat” was hosted from Wright’s Edgewood Plaza barbershop. (The Herald Bulletin partners with the radio station to present the program.) During the program, Wright said the city needed to offer more options to keep kids off drugs.
“We need more programs for kids, so they don’t get involved in drugs and crime,” he said, according to a previously published article. “I would like to see a community center out here.”
The next day, according to police, he sold about a one-third ounce of crack cocaine to a confidential informant.
According to a probable cause affidavit:
Wright sold crack to the informant several more times in November, and once more in December — all from his then-barbershop at Edgewood Plaza.
Wright was being held in the Madison County Jail without bond late Friday for allegedly violating the terms of his probation in an unrelated case. The circumstances surrounding the earlier conviction weren’t immediately available late Friday. Wright made an initial court appearance Friday, where an automatic not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf.
Wright’s arrest is the second time in less than a year that a city businessman was taken into custody on allegations of dealing cocaine. Sgt. William Casey, department spokesman, said Larry L. McClendon, 28, owner of A Town Fashions, 1700 Nichol Ave., was arrested on Nov. 16. He posted 10 percent of his $35,000 bond and was released from jail the same day.
In March, prosecutors charged McClendon with three Class B felony counts of dealing the drug.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.