81 Year-Old Grannie Busted in Drug Raid

On Thursday, March 30^th, United States Drug Enforcement Administration agents, the U.S. Marshals Service, and undercover police officers in Mobile, Alabama arrested 27 people in connection with a string of drug raids. 81 year-old Margie Steiner was one of those people.

MARGIE'S STORY

Fifty-four people were initially targeted in the drug raid initiated by the Mobile County Sheriff's Office. Bayou La Batre Police Chief John Joyner claims that weeks prior, officials received tips from an informant that the elderly woman was dealing drugs.

Per the police department, Margie Steiner, was secretly videotaped two nights before Thursday's raid---selling crack cocaine. Additionally, per reports, undercover officers also purchased crack from Steiner's 39 year-old daughter, Rhonda Tate, and two other individuals identified as Tate's friends.

Police Chief Joyner states that the 81 year-old woman has owned for many years, several of the "wooden shotgun houses" that pepper the area near hers. Per Joyner, Steiner has been renting the dilapidated homes for approximately $300 per month. Police claim that while Steiner has no criminal history, she has often complained over the years, about the drug activity in the area; her complaints have centered largely on the tenants occupying her houses.

THE BUST

The bust at Steiner's Mallette Street home was actually one of many. As a result of the busts, 27 people have been arrested, which ten additional ones already in custody on various violations.

Joyner states of the arrests: "That's pretty decent. It's more than I was expecting, to tell the truth."

Seven people will be indicted by a federal grand jury on crack conspiracy charges. It is claimed that most of the people involved in the bust operated in a 1 ½ block area of Bayou La Batre. Joyner admits that despite a bit of yelling from one of Rhonda Tate's friends, the drug bust was a rather quiet success. Reports state that upon being arrested, Steiner made her way slowly---and with a cane---from the house down the walkway, to the awaiting police car. As she was leaving, another of her daughters, who lives across the street, screamed at police, demanding to know where they were taking her mother. Ironically, Steiner scolded her other daughter for cursing.

Police are unsure whether Steiner recently began selling crack cocaine, or whether her ongoing complaints were part of a plan to distract police away from her operation. Joyner credits the elderly woman's acumen if indeed [the complaints] were all part of a plan.

He said, "If she was doing it all along, she was good. Because we're usually on top of it."