BREAKING: Hundreds of officers sweep Huntington in massive drug takedown
The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON — Hundreds of federal, state and local officials teamed up Tuesday morning on what's being described as a "major takedown" of drug traffickers in the area.
U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart, representing the Southern District of West Virginia, announced the effort at 11 a.m., after Huntington residents had noticed hours of heavy police presence across the area in the form of helicopters, airplanes and armed officers conducting rapid raids in different neighborhoods.
He told media members Tuesday's effort might be largest drug takedown in the state and definitely is the largest in Huntington.
Stuart first announced the formation of Project Huntington on March 15, in response to the growing opioid epidemic and an uptick of violent crime in southern West Virginia. On Tuesday, in a takedown of federal and state targets, nearly 100 defendants were targeted for arrest, Stuart said in a news release issued prior to the press conference.
The effort is believed to have dismantled the Peterson Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO), a major multi-state heroin and fentanyl distribution network that has operated in Huntington for nearly 15 years, according to Stuart.
“This wasn’t all show," he told the media. "We took down an entire network.”
The Peterson DTO had been trafficking large amounts of heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine from Detroit to be sold in Huntington in street-level gram quantities. In August 2017, investigators executed a search warrant at Manget Peterson’s residence and an associated hotel room, where workers were distributing heroin. Multiple sources advised that the Peterson DTO distributed kilogram quantities of heroin in Huntington on a near-weekly basis, using a network of re-distributors.
On Tuesday morning, Manget Peterson was apprehended in Huntington and his brother, Willie Peterson, was apprehended in Detroit.
Also on Tuesday:
n At least 15 individuals involved in the Peterson DTO have been charged in a federal indictment in the Southern District of West Virginia with conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl;
n 15 individuals involved in the Peterson DTO were indicted yesterday in Cabell County Circuit Court on state charges;
n Additional members of the Peterson DTO will be arrested and charged in Detroit;
n 13 individuals involved in narcotics and/or firearms that have been charged in federal indictments in the Southern District of West Virginia; and
n At least 48 individuals are targeted for arrest on various narcotics, violent crime, and firearms related charges at the federal or state level as determined by the circumstances of each matter.
More than 200 federal, state and local law enforcement officers took part in Tuesday’s take-down effort, according to Stuart, including Huntington Police, Drug Enforcement Administration, Cabell and Wayne county sheriffs and Marshall University police. The West Virginia National Guard also provided a number of personnel in a support function to the operation.
In conjunction with the arrest and search warrants executed in Huntington today, Stuart said it is anticipated federal authorities in Detroit will soon be executing additional arrest warrants and search warrants. Additional charges will be brought against individuals in the Eastern District of Michigan.
“Today’s actions have removed from our streets enough fentanyl to kill more than 250,000 people and massive amounts of other drugs that would have wreaked havoc and misery on our good citizens," Stuart said. "Today is a turning point for the City of Huntington and in the war against the opiate nightmare."
This is a developing story. Check back for additional information as it becomes available.
WINNING!!!!!
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