PORT ANGELES — Two Port Angeles women remained in the Clallam County jail on Friday after they were arrested in the area of Third and Laurel streets and booked Tuesday afternoon for investigation of several drug offenses.
Ali Tayler Justine Smith, 29, is being held in the Clallam County jail for investigation of one count of possession of a controlled substance (fentanyl) with intent to deliver and six failure to comply warrants. Her bail is set at $45,000.
She made a preliminary court appearance on Wednesday and had a motion hearing on Thursday. No future court dates have been set.
Amanda R. Dorame, 32, is being held on one count of possession of a controlled substance (fentanyl) with intent to deliver. Her bail is set at $20,000.
She made a preliminary appearance on Wednesday and had a motion hearing on Thursday. No future court dates have been set.
The arrests were part of an emphasis patrol conducted by the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team (OPNET) assisted by the Port Angeles Police Department and Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, according to an OPNET press release.
The emphasis patrol targeted that area because of a large amount of drug traffic, drug usage, drug overdoses and property crime in the area, OPNET said.
OPNET detectives conducted surveillance in the area over several days and said they observed multiple hand-to-hand transactions between a variety of people and those inside the van in which Dorame and Smith were known to live, the release stated.
Detectives said they saw controlled substance usage by a person who just had walked away from the van. Next, they also said they saw Dorame drive the van onto the Safeway property, for which she had been issued a trespass warning.
Port Angeles police officers and Clallam County sheriff’s deputies stopped the van at Fourth and Laurel streets and arrested Dorame for investigation of criminal trespass and Smith for six outstanding warrants.
OPNET detectives obtained a search warrant for the van and found an estimated 180 pills suspected to be fentanyl, a chalk substance suspected to be fentanyl, cash, baggies, scales, burnt foil and other drug paraphernalia.
The Washington State Supreme Court’s Blake decision in February 2021 declared the state’s felony drug possession law to be unconstitutional because it made possession a felony even for people who did not know they had drugs.
OPNET is a multi-agency team dedicated to the enforcement of narcotics laws in Clallam and Jefferson counties. It includes members of the Clallam and Jefferson county sheriff’s offices, Port Angeles and Sequim police departments, U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at brian.gawley@soundpublishing.com.
