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Thursday, Jun. 11, 2009

Drug sweep related to pill pipeline nets 15

Police arrested 15 people and were seeking seven others suspected of illegally selling drugs, mostly oxycodone, in Menifee County.

An official said that a lot of the pills involved came from Florida, and that the suspects were either going to Florida themselves to get them or knew someone who would.

The arrests followed an eight-month undercover investigation and came as a growing number of Kentuckians have traveled to Florida to obtain prescription drugs legally and then brought the drugs back to be sold by illegal traffickers in Kentucky.

The trips are made to escape the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting system, which tracks who prescribes, dispenses and receives controlled drugs.

Kentucky doctors and officials have blamed the Florida pill pipeline for widespread drug addiction and overdose deaths.

The Florida General Assembly recently passed legislation authorizing a similar tracking system there.

By late afternoon, 15 of the suspects targeted by Operation UNITE (Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treatment & Education) had been charged and jailed in the Montgomery County Regional Detention Center.

The suspects and the charges against them (all are Frenchburg residents unless otherwise noted):

■ Sherry L. Bargo, 39, two counts of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

■ Brittany Caudill, 18, second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

■ Aldo Combs, 32, of Wellington, cultivating less than five plants of marijuana.

■ Eric L. Craig, 29, first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance, trafficking in a controlled substance within 1,000 yards of a school, and second-degree persistent felony offender.

■ John Donathan, 24, first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance and first-degree persistent felony offender.

■ Sheronna Byrd Helton, 27, first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance and trafficking in a controlled substance within 1,000 yards of a school.

■ Misty Himes, 29, first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

■ Kenneth Jenkins, 34, first- and second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

■ Jimmie L. Jones, 23, trafficking in a controlled substance within 1,000 yards of a school.

■ Jeremy Martin, 23, first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance and second-degree persistent felony offender.

■ Franky L. Randall, 21, two counts of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

■ Dustin A. Roberts, 26, first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance and second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

■ William H. Rowe, 42, first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

■ Anthony J. Wells, 24, first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance and second-degree persistent felony offender.

■ Thomas R. Wells, 29, of Frenchburg, first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

UNITE detectives and officers from the Menifee County sheriff's office, the Kentucky Attorney General's office and Kentucky State Police served the arrest warrants.