More than 20 arrests on federal drug trafficking and illegal gun possession charges were announced this week at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Louisville office, as law enforcement agencies in attendance advised a new collaborative effort should help continuing efforts to crack down on violent crime.
“Let these indictments be a warning. To anyone in Louisville that wishes to poison our streets, we’re coming,” said Kyle G. Bumgarner, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Kentucky. “To trigger-pullers who have no regard for human life, we’re coming. And to gang members scaring innocent people from downtown Louisville, we’re coming.”
A total of 22 people have been charged as a result of two separate investigations, Operation Burn Bridges and Operation Express Delivery, Bumgarner and other law enforcement leaders said at their July 1 news conference. Most are from Louisville, though six who are accused of trafficking methamphetamine into the region are from California.
The DOJ said drugs and guns seized the two investigations, which began last April and July and remain open, include more than 60 pounds of methamphetamine, 88 pounds of fentanyl — including more than 130,000 fentanyl pills intended to look like legitimate pharmaceuticals — and more than 125 firearms.
Most defendants face a minimum of 10 years in prison, with parole not an option in federal cases. Three defendants from Louisville — Terry Matthews, Celotia Evans and Jaremei Hinkle — have not yet been federally arrested, a DOH spokesperson said. Mark Foster, previously convicted in two other felony cases, faces a minimum sentence of 70 years if convicted.
The arrests were a result of collaboration between several agencies, Bumgarner and other officials noted, including the DOJ; FBI; the Department of Homeland Security; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Kentucky State Police; Louisville Metro Police and other groups.
They’ve joined together to form a “Homeland Security Task Force,” Bumgarner said, where they’ll meet at the FBI Louisville field office to “join together as one unit to organize our resources and go after as aggressively as possible any narcotics that are being transported into Louisville … and pushed out on our streets.”
Homeland Security Investigations Assistant Special Agent In Charge Bruce Passmore said the arrests show “exactly why the Homeland Security Task Force was created — to bring together federal, state and local partners with a shared mission of dismantling high thread criminal networks that endanger public safety.”
“Today’s outcome proves that when we combine our resources, our intelligence and our resolve, we’re stronger and our communities are safer,” he said.
Bumgarner said the investigations remain open and more arrests at the federal or state level are possible.
Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com. Reach Marina Johnson at marina.johnson@courier-journal.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville drug, gun federal investigations result in 20+ charged