By LEILA FADEL
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
Crystal meth users in Tarrant and Dallas counties could have a harder time finding the drug after a 10-month investigation by state and federal officials produced 103 indictments for drug dealers in North Texas and south central Oklahoma, officials said Tuesday.
“The impact is going to be felt from Gainesville to Oklahoma,” said Michelle Deaver, spokeswoman for the Dallas Field Division Drug Enforcement Administration. “We’re seeing a lot less labs, and that’s fantastic for the community and child endangerment.”
Methamphetamine is the leading drug problem in Tarrant County, officials said.
The investigation began in May, after Oklahoma city officials asked for help, Deaver said in a telephone interview as she drove back from Oklahoma. A team of local, federal and state officials discovered more than 100 dealers in the two states, and seized about $161,000, 49 weapons and 15 pounds of methamphetamine, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Fifteen of the 103 indictments were federal and focused on members of Satan’s Disciples, a violent Chicago street gang that had infiltrated parts of Northeast Texas and southern Oklahoma. Most of the federal indictments were for Texas traffickers in Gainesville, Deaver said.
Tuesday’s indictments resulted in 64 arrested by early evening, Deaver said.
“After a year of intense, cooperative undercover activity, this operation stands as an example of what can be accomplished when agents at all levels of government work together for the good of their communities,” said Sheldon Spearling, United States attorney for the eastern district of Oklahoma, in a news release.
There are 60 percent fewer meth labs in Tarrant County than there were two years ago because of new laws that regulate the sale of Sudafed and similar products, which contains an ingredient of the drug, said Herschel Tebay, commander of the Tarrant County Narcotics Unit. But locally made meth is being replaced with imported Mexican “ice,” a potent form of the drug from across the border, Tebay said.
Meth cases make up about 60 percent of drug cases in Tarrant County, he said. In a series of cases over the summer, 33 pounds of meth were seized in only two weeks, Tebay said.
“The North Texas area is a perfect tran-system shipment spot,” Tebay said. “Huge loads come here, going to the rest of the country. You can go anywhere from here. We’re a perfect one day’s drive from the border. ... It is one of our major problems, and we continue to focus on it.”
Fort Worth Star Telegram (http://www.star-telegram.com/)