MANCHESTER – Fourteen Clay County residents have been identified for arrest following a 10-month undercover investigation by Operation UNITE centering on the illegal sale and distribution of the drug Suboxone.
In conjunction with the Manchester Police Department, which also had drug-related warrants to serve, UNITE detectives set out to arrest approximately 20 suspects early Tuesday morning. Deputies from the Clay County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the operation.
Suboxone is an opiod medication generally prescribed to reduce other narcotic dependency.
The primary ingredient of Suboxone is Buprenophine, which has limited effects of other opiods such as Oxycodone or heroin. The drug also contains Naloxone to counter these effects and to discourage people from dissolving the tablet and injecting it.
Taken at the appropriate doses and by dissolving the tablet under one’s tongue, Suboxone helps to reduce illicit drug use and keep patients in treatment by suppressing symptoms of opiod withdrawl and decreasing cravings for opiods.
“Like Methadone, its clinic-based cousin in opiate addiction therapy, Suboxone is susceptible to abuse because it produces the euphoric effects a user craves,” noted Paul Hays, deputy law enforcement director for UNITE. “Unfortunately, Suboxone has quickly become a drug of choice by illegal dealers and recreational drug users in Clay County searching for a new way to get high.”
Hays noted that most of those dealing in Suboxone were diverting their own medications that had been obtained lawfully with a prescription.
Members of the Clay Countians UNITED coalition were on hand as suspects were brought back for processing to offer assistance.
As of early afternoon Tuesday, nine people had been arrested by Operation UNITE and lodged in the Clay County Detention Center:
• Gerald L. Becknell, age 34, Locust Street, Manchester, second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.
• David Shannon Bundy, age 27, Herd Cemetery Road, Manchester, second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.
• Harmon Edward Coffman, age 49, Crawfish Road, Manchester, second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance (Hydrocodone).
• Denver Duff, age 39, Yeager Branch Road, Manchester, second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance (Hydrocodone).
• Eddie Michael Feltner, age 26, North Highway 421, Manchester, second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.
• Shannon Hicks, age 37, Rockhouse Road, Manchester, second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.
• Charles Jarvis, age 30, Highway 80, Manchester, second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.
• Eli Marcum, age 59, Gregory Branch Road, Manchester, second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.
• Lonnie Philpot, age 31, Philpot Lane, Manchester, second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance and criminal possession of a forged instrument.
Law enforcement officers were continuing to search for the other five suspects.