'Normal' Rathdrum family affected by drug raid

RATHDRUM - The FBI didn't spend more than a couple hours in Rathdrum on Thursday, but they caused plenty of stir.

News that Jessica Colvin's home was one of 20 locations searched by federal authorities as part of a multi-state drug raid Thursday traveled quickly.

Her landlord came to visit after seeing a picture of Colvin's home on the front page of The Press. Grocery store cashiers asked questions. Her children texted from school saying classmates were asking if their home was a drug house or if the family was dealing drugs.

"We're quiet and we keep to ourselves," Colvin said. "We're just a normal family and this makes it look so bad."

Colvin said everyone in the family was sleeping when there was a pounding on their door and flashlights cutting into the darkness of their backyard. Her fiance answered the door and was immediately cuffed, she said.

When Colvin went to get her crying 9-month-old from the baby's bedroom, she said she came out of the room with the baby in her arms to find an assault rifle just inches from her nose and two other weapons trained on her.

The FBI had come with a warrant in hand looking for 40-year-old Ronald E. Gardner. Gardner and his reported girlfriend, 40-year-old Takiyah R. Gayle, have been identified as fugitives wanted in connection with an alleged drug-trafficking operation that has resulted in more than 30 arrests in four states.

Both remain at large, according to FBI Supervisory Senior Agent Frank Harrill.

Colvin said Gardner and her fiance, who said he didn't want to be named for fear of his family's safety, were childhood friends.

As recently as last weekend, Gardner and his daughters stayed overnight at the family's home. The men consider themselves brothers and consider their respective children nieces and nephews, she said.

Though the FBI said both Gardner and Gayle are from Rathdrum, Colvin said neither live in Rathdrum and have only visited the family's home on occasion.

Harrill would not release details on why the two have been described as "fugitives from Rathdrum," or why they are wanted in connection with the FBI's drug investigation. In a press conference Thursday, the FBI said both were assumed to have fled to California.

Rathdrum Police Chief Kevin Fuhr said neither Gardner nor Gayle are in his department's database.

"If they have been here, they haven't been here long," he said.

As for Colvin's home, Fuhr said it's not one his officers are familiar with or recall visiting in the past.

Colvin said her fiance has made mistakes in the past, but moved to her former hometown of Rathdrum for a fresh start.

She said she never imagined the FBI would be knocking at her door and searching her home.

"We wanted the kids in good schools," she said.

When the FBI wrapped up their search on Thursday, they left behind a copy of a warrant and an accounting for what they took with them - a cell phone and some bank receipts.

"We have nothing to hide," she said.