Over drugs, food stamps, guns in Delta, 47 charged

Surrounded by an assortment of federal, state, and local law enforcement officers, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Chris Thyer discusses the multi-state bust which netted nearly 300 arrests in the illegal diversion of prescription drugs during a press conference Wednesday in Little Rock.
Surrounded by an assortment of federal, state, and local law enforcement officers, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Chris Thyer discusses the multi-state bust which netted nearly 300 arrests in the illegal diversion of prescription drugs during a press conference Wednesday in Little Rock.

HELENA-WEST HELENA -- Two joint federal and state investigations in the Arkansas Delta resulted in the indictment of 47 people on federal and state drug, firearm and fraud charges, officials announced Tuesday.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A map showing the location of Helena-West Helena.

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Eleven federal indictments charging 39 defendants in the investigations were unsealed Tuesday after a coordinated roundup of the charged defendants, mainly in Helena-West Helena.

The indictments were handed up by a federal grand jury Nov. 4.

Eight other people tied to the investigations face state drug charges.

Tuesday's Operation Delta Blues announcement was a continuation of the 2011 investigation of the same name -- a drug-trafficking and public-corruption investigation primarily focused on Helena-West Helena and Marianna.

The other investigation, Operation Plastic Castle, targeted people accused of defrauding the U.S. Department of Agriculture by selling their food stamps benefits -- now known as the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP-- at a Helena-West Helena convenience store.

The Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force investigations were conducted by the FBI, the USDA and the Arkansas State Police in partnership with the 1st Judicial District Drug Task Force.

"The Arkansas Delta has suffered far too long under the scourge of illegal drugs, corruption and fraudsters," Chris Thyer, the U.S. attorney for eastern Arkansas, said during a Tuesday afternoon news conference in Helena-West Helena announcing the investigations.

"Today, I stand with my ... law enforcement partners with the FBI and the Arkansas State Police to reaffirm our commitment in helping our neighbors here in the Arkansas Delta pull the weeds from their backyards."

The Operation Delta Blues and Operation Plastic Castle actions come after an Aug. 11 operation in Mississippi County that charged 70 people -- mostly residents of Blytheville -- with crimes such as methamphetamine distribution, crack distribution and possession of a firearm by a felon.

About 300 law enforcement officers and support personnel, including about 130 tactical officers, carried out the operations Tuesday.

Seventeen federal and eight state arrest warrants were executed early in the morning, resulting in the arrests of 13 federal defendants and five state defendants. No one was injured.

Seven defendants remained fugitives as of Tuesday afternoon.

"The men and women of the Arkansas State Police, along with the FBI and Thyer's office, are committed to making this a better community," state police Director Col. Bill Bryant said.

According to a news release from the U.S. attorney, agents with the FBI, state police and 1st Judicial District Drug Task Force coordinated more than 60 controlled-drug purchases from 2012 through 2015.

Two court-authorized wiretaps were also used in the drug-trafficking and firearms investigation.

Fifteen of the people federally indicted were charged with various drug crimes, including intent to distribute crack cocaine.

David Resch, special agent in charge of the Little Rock field office of the FBI, said in the news release that Tuesday's "arrests are evidence of our continued resolve to make an impact on crime in the Arkansas Delta."

The other 24 people facing federal charges were charged in a single indictment with unlawful transfer of food stamp benefits or conspiracy to unlawfully redeem such benefits.

FBI and USDA agents engaged in undercover transactions involving the illegal transfer of food stamp benefits, the news release said.

According to the release, the owner and manager of the convenience store "allowed SNAP recipients to trade their SNAP benefits for ineligible items such as beer and cigarettes, and for cash."

The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program recipients who redeemed their benefits for cash split the transactions, with the recipient receiving 60 percent of the redemption and the convenience store receiving 40 percent of the amount, the release said.

The amount lost through the fraud, which began in 2013, is more than $250,000, authorities said.

"The indictment announced today is an indictment of individuals who we allege have perverted the SNAP program to their own benefit," Thyer said.

"It is not an indictment of the entire program. This is a good program designed to feed the poorest of the poor among us, and in the vast majority of cases, it works well. Today's indictment merely shows that at times people will take advantage of the very system designed to help them."

Thirty-five of the people indicted on federal charges are residents of Helena-West Helena. One of the defendants is a Little Rock resident; one is a resident of North Little Rock; and two are residents of Southaven, Miss., a Memphis suburb.

Two of the people indicted on federal charges also list dual residency in Helena-West Helena and Dearborn, Mich.

All eight of the state defendants are Helena-West Helena residents. They are all charged with delivery of a controlled substance.

The news conference was attended by several Phillips County residents, including Alderman Joe St. Columbia, a member for 21 years of the Helena City Council and Helena-West Helena City Council.

"We've got to clean our community up if we expect industry ... to move in," he said. "The federal and state officials coming in to help our local police and sheriff's department ... is a great asset that we had in cooperating and working with us in an effort to make our city a better place to live."

The people arrested Tuesday will be arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Harris on Thursday in Little Rock.

The 24 defendants charged with defrauding the USDA will receive summonses over the next several days.

While Tuesday's roundup will probably end the use of the Operation Delta Blues name, the involvement of federal and state law enforcement in the Delta will not end, Thyer said.

"It is absolutely not the end of our commitment to the citizens of Phillips County and Helena-West Helena in particular," he said. "We intend to stay here for the long term. ... Our commitment has never been stronger."

Metro on 11/11/2015

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