# Busted



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Multi-agency drug sting nets 41 arrests, including two alleged drug dealers 

*By CINDI HERR*
[email protected]

By CINDI HERR
[email protected]
*Murphy* - A cooperative effort between the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office and 20 other local and state agencies led to the arrest of 41 suspects Friday, including two alleged drug dealers.
As part of a series of ongoing investigations called "Operation First Frost," Polly Renfro, 54, of Hayesville, and Loretta Huskins, 45, of Andrews, were each arrested on multiple drug charges.
"We continue to feel that the war on drugs is the most important thing we can do - it pretty much affects everything else we do crime-wise in the county," Sheriff Keith Lovin said. "To make our county safe ... we will continue to be aggressive."
Upon searching Renfro's residence Sept. 12, law enforcement officers seized about 10,000 dosage units of prescription drugs, Chief Deputy Tom Frye said.
"The Polly Renfro case is a significant case," Frye said. "Over the past five years, we've had 55 drug overdose deaths in Cherokee and Clay counties. One drug that causes us a significant amount of grief is methadone. It contributes to more prescription drug overdose deaths than any other."
Frye believes drug seizures like the one at Renfro's residence will help put an end to prescription drug abuse in the area.
"Medicaid paid for $12.4 million in prescription drugs in Cherokee County [last year], and fraud accounts for a fairly good amount of that," Lovin said.
Huskins' residence also was searched earlier in the week by officers from the sheriff's office and the Multiple Agency Narcotics Unit. They found large quantities of methamphetamine.
Huskins has been indicted on a variety of drug charges, including having a continuing criminal enterprise.
According to a release from the sheriff's office, this charge is reserved for someone who occupies a management position within a drug organization and oversees the distribution of methamphetamine to five or more individuals and realizes substantial profits from the sales.
"This is only the second of its type prosecuted in the 30th Judicial District," Frye said.
The first involved a similar enterprise by Jeffrey Wade McTaggart in 2003. During Friday's investigations, Huskins boasted about taking over the McTaggart operation, sheriff's officials said.
Investigations leading up to Operation First Frost began early this year. Two weeks prior to the sting, agencies began coordinating to develop a list of indictments. 
Their endeavors culminated in Friday's cooperative effort between the sheriff's office and 20 other agencies from surrounding counties, Georgia and Tennessee; U.S. Customs; the State Bureau of Investigations; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and the District Attorney's and Cherokee County Clerk of Courts offices. Officers began serving warrants at 4 a.m.
"Sheriff Lovin and I assist each other in all operations. We do a lot of drug things together," said Sheriff Scott Stephens of Union County, Ga. "Some of his criminals are ours too."
The effort consisted of undercover drug operations, prescription fraud and conspiracy investigations targeting more than 50 individuals involved in the sale and distribution of methamphetamine, crack cocaine, marijuana and prescription drugs, for a total of 260 known charges.
"Undercover drug investigations take a lot of time and work on the part of the law enforcement officers," said District Attorney Michael Bonfoey.
"The work that is done in an operation of this type needs to be kept secret until all of the information is collected and all of the cases are made on the suspects by the investigators. Investigators never want to disclose the identity of the undercover agents until the cases are ready for indictment and subsequent arrest."
Several illegal immigrants were rounded up and questioned in relation to the drug charges, but they were all released, Frye said.
"The conduit by which many drugs come into the county is the Mexican pipeline," Lovin said.
Sheriff's officials said arrests are still being made and more charges will probably be discovered as investigations continue
 

















Photos by SCOTT WALLACE/Cherokee Scout
At top, Virgil Phillips is led to an awaiting patrol car by Sgt. Chris Wood of the N.C. Highway Patrol. Phillips was arrested Friday afternoon at his home in the Martins Creek area of Cherokee County on drugs and weapons charges. Sgt. Mark Patterson of the Cherokee County Jail and officers with the Union County, Ga., Sheriff's Office also were on the scene. Below, Derick Palmer, commander of the Multiple Agency Narcotics Unit, sorts through the evidence seized from Phillips' home Friday afternoon.


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