Owensboro Police conducted a major drug raid – 37 charges filed, 34 arrests made this week

On Wednesday, Owensboro Police released more details about their extensive drug enforcement operation.

Of the 37 people charged, 17 are from Owensboro and most are accused of trafficking meth and/or fentanyl.

The Owensboro Police Department is one of several agencies, including the DEA in Indianapolis and Evansville, as well as investigators from Louisville and California.

OPD Deputy Chief Lt. Col. JD Winkler said the impact of this investigation is to dismantle a criminal organization from the top down, starting with the leadership.

“They can take advantage of vulnerable people,” he said during Wednesday's press conference. “They can use addicts to physically deal drugs on the street and keep them away from that. That's what these investigations are for: to take out the perpetrators who are taking advantage of people to make money off of them.”

There were also weapons charges, such as in the case of 24-year-old Cameron Jackson of Owensboro, whose charges stemmed from a 2019 second-degree manslaughter conviction.

So far, 34 of the 37 people have been arrested without incident. They will work with the US Marshals to secure the rest.

252 pounds of meth and 25 pounds of cocaine were seized – presumably for sale in southern Indiana and western Kentucky.

Michael Gannon, special agent with the DEA in Indianapolis, said these homemade illegal drugs are particularly dangerous.

“We see fentanyl all the time, and they can put it in anything they want,” he said. “They can put it in methamphetamine. They can put it in cocaine. They can make these pills that look like real drugs that they then mix into medications.”

According to Gannon, there are about 112,000 overdose deaths each year.

The operation began in Owensboro with undercover street stings by Owensboro Police.

Eventually they began looking for suppliers of local narcotics in Louisville and even Los Angeles.

The operation to dismantle the entire drug trafficking organization was massive.

“This investigation involved thousands and thousands of hours of undercover work,” Winkler said. “… multiple undercover operations, controlled vice squads, multiple search warrants, and over a period of more than a year. Ultimately, it culminated in the multi-agency operation that took place last week in Owensboro, Davis County, as well as in Louisville, Kentucky, and a search warrant that was executed in Ohio County.”

Even the Evansville police, the Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office and the local DEA were involved. The main wave of arrests ended in California on Tuesday.

Winkler said there are always multiple drug investigations going on at the same time, and federal funds often have to be used to pay for overtime and pull investigators from different departments.

You can read a detailed description of the investigation, including the defendants, here.

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