MADISON, W.Va. — State Police believe the roundup of suspects from last week will have an impact on drug dealing for the time being in Boone County. Ten individuals were arrested in separate drug investigations conducted by the State Police and the U.S. Route 119 Drug Task Force.
“I’d say it made a substantial dent,” said Sgt. Charles Sutphin of the West Virginia State Police. “Did it clear it all up? No, never. But we’re hoping with some public cooperation we can get more of them.”
Sutphin said one of the cases in which he was closely involved undercover troopers and confidential informants had been buying drugs since February. Sutphin said the process is slow to protect the cover of informants who are helping out their work.
Most of those arrested were considered “mid-level” dealers and were fairly high up in the drug hierarchy of the county.
“Mid-ship dealers. One boy I arrested said he was the go-between,” said Sutphin. “People would bring there medication to him to sell and he’d receive a cut of it and they’d receive the rest of the profit.”
Most of the drugs involved were prescription painkillers. The troopers also seized a meth lab Friday as part of the roundup. The ten individuals arrested were in locations all over Boone County. Sutphin said with the exception of a husband and wife, none of the suspects arrested in Friday’s roundup had any ties to each other. All of the arrests were sparked by separate and ongoing investigations.