WISE, Va. — Police in Wise County have been busy, as a roundup of 60 drug suspects began Tuesday morning.
Wise County Sheriff Grant Kilgore and Commonwealth’s Attorney Brett Hall announced the roundup, dubbed “Round One of 2023.” The 60 suspects are the targets of 75 indictments and well over 100 criminal drug-related charges. The arrests stem from an investigation into the distribution of meth, fentanyl and other drugs.
“I want to give credit to the law enforcement officers who are working today to keep drugs off our streets,” Sheriff Kilgore said. “I am proud to be a part of this effort and thankful for the hard work of all the officers involved today. We pray for their safety as they continue this important work, making arrests, and bringing offenders to justice.”
Charges from the operation are all drug related crimes, including distribution of a controlled substance, distribution of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school, possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, prescription fraud, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and possession of a firearm while simultaneously possessing controlled substances illegally. More than three-quarters of the charges involve meth.
“Methamphetamine is a dangerous, highly addictive drug with scary side effects that has plagued our community for several years,” Hall said. “When meth crimes increase in our area, so does other criminal activity such as theft, breaking and entering, and other violent crimes. Today’s arrests are a great step toward combatting not only the drug issue in our community, but also reducing these other violent crimes to minimize the pattern of increased violence in Southwest Virginia. We will continue our efforts by aggressively prosecuting these cases.”
The roundup was the culmination of a lengthy investigation by the Southwest Virginia Multi-Jurisdictional Narcotics Task Force and all of its member agencies.
