Ellis County extends task force agreement

JOEY DAUBEN
The Ellis County Press

ELLIS COUNTY - County law enforcement officials will continue to work with the Southeast Metroplex Narcotics Task Force to combat the area's illegal drug trade.

Commissioners voted unanimously to work with the task force. Sheriff Ray Stewart told county officials Monday, Jan. 13 almost $5 million in drugs were confiscated, resulting in 80 arrests on 189 cases.

The task force, the biggest in the state, is also one of many drug interdiction agencies in the state working with local police departments and counties to fight the War on Drugs.

However, the task force isn't without controversy.

Labeled as a 'miniature CIA' by former law enforcement officials, the task force has been embroiled in financial controversy, as well as secretive undercover narcotics dealing.

Last July, Capt. John Goss was found shot to death in his north Waxahachie office, apparently the result of a suicide.

An upcoming audit for missing monies in the task force office was given as one of the possible justifications for the suicide.

Longtime friends said Goss wasn't a victim of suicide, but rather the controversies plaguing the force.

The force was created in 1989 with the help of then-Sheriff John Gage and Congressman Joe Barton.

The biggest problem the task force faces, Stewart said, is clandestine methamphetamine labs.

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