Even before the sun came up Thursday morning, law enforcement officers from seven different agencies were targeting suspects in a massive roundup aimed at ridding the community of drug dealers.
Police fanned out across an area stretching from Greenwood to Franklin to Edinburgh, going into Columbus and Indianapolis as well, to serve 33 warrants on charges related to dealing methamphetamine, heroin and other drugs. The coordinated effort, nicknamed Operation Hocus Pocus, resulted in 22 arrests by 1:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
The message sent in the roundup was clear: Drug dealers are not welcome in this community.
"We’re not giving up. We’ll find you," said Joe Villanueva, Johnson County prosecutor during a press conference Thursday afternoon.
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Operation Hocus Pocus started at 6 a.m. Thursday, as approximately 60 officers made their way to pre-determined locations throughout the county with warrants for arrest.
The roundup was led by the Franklin Police Department, Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, Johnson County Prosecutor, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and Marion County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from Edinburgh and Bargersville police.
Investigations into the individuals had been ongoing since April by undercover officers. Franklin police and the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office receives tips every day about potential drug dealing activity, often from community members. From those tips, officers start building cases to arrest those individuals, said Johnson County Sheriff Duane Burgess.
As soon as law enforcement feel they have a strong case against them, they move to arrest them, Burgess said.
"We follow those tips immediately. That’s the one thing I can say in this county, when we get information, it is hit quickly," he said.
The effort was primarily focused on dealing methamphetamine, which made up 33 of the 50 charges. Another eight charges were brought for dealing heroin, while nine charges involved dealing pills or other drugs.
That focused signaled what law enforcement already know: meth remains the largest drug problem in the county.
"Methamphetamine is still king here in Johnson County," Villanueva said.
The campaign was smaller than the previous two drug roundups conducted in the county. In November 2018, officers targeted 120 drug dealers in a massive sweep, which was the largest roundup in Indiana history.
Another effort in April went after 50 dealers.
But this smaller effort was more efficient and safer for law enforcement, said Franklin Police Chief Kirby Cochran.
"The prosecutor, the sheriff and I all agree — those larger roundups, 120 people, it’s hard to manage. There’s a lot of risk involved in that. And we don’t want to leave these folks on the street any longer than we need to," he said.
Officers continue to tracking down the suspects that had not yet been arrested yet Thursday. Even as this roundup concludes, law enforcement is working on new cases and continuing the investigation process for the next roundup.
"Even as these warrants are being served, drug deals are still taking place. We’re still working. I can assure you as the chief of police that we’re going to keep working hard, increase our narcotics division this coming year, and increase to look at tools to combat this," Cochran said.
