STERLING – It was hard to mistake the pungent, skunky smell of marijuana mixed with cigarette smoke as officers stood in the doorway of the small, brown apartment building.

Donning black police polo shirts and black bulletproof vests, the officers wiped sweat from their brows as they made their way up a narrow set of stairs leading to a top-floor apartment.

The man who lived there apparently was allowing someone to sell drugs from his apartment, according to an anonymous tipster.