INDIANAPOLIS (WXIN) – Federal court records are revealing what led to a large-scale federal drug bust around central Indiana on Wednesday.
According to the criminal complaint filed in federal court, the investigation began in Vigo County before stretching into Indianapolis, Fishers and Muncie.
Court records claim the DEA began the case by investigating a suspect named Joshua Kendall in Vigo County in October 2022.
The case then expanded to include two other suspects, Wesley Young and Terry Pounds.
It’s not clear how many others may have been involved in the drug ring.
Over the span of a few hours Wednesday morning, DEA agents and local law enforcement served search warrants at a half dozen homes around central Indiana.
The criminal complaint against Pounds claims the DEA used wiretaps and intercepted multiple phone calls between Young and Pounds where the pair discussed exchanging large amounts of drugs and money.
Specifically, the two suspects allegedly arranged the sale of thousands of blue pills, believed to be counterfeit M-30 pills.
During one recovered conversation, Pounds allegedly claimed he had a customer who wanted to buy 1,000 counterfeit pills.
According to the DEA, those fake pills are often deadly because on average 7 out of 10 counterfeit M-30 pills seized nationwide are laced with fentanyl.
That’s why the goal of the raids this week is to save lives by getting dangerous drugs off the streets.
“We need to do a better job as a community encouraging people to stay away from drugs because the danger of using any drug right now is it could be laced with fentanyl,” said DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Mike Gannon.
During a search of a home near E. 46th Street on Wednesday, police reports show multiple guns were seized.
The complaint against Pounds, in which he’s charged with possession with intent to distribute, claims during a search of his home in the 1900 block of Hines Street in Muncie police seized cocaine and two more firearms.
Pounds was convicted of drug dealing in 2006 and was released from DOC custody in 2016.
Speaking about the raids on Wednesday, Gannon said busts like this are critical because last year in Marion County there were 852 fatal drug overdoses. 641 of those cases were fentanyl-related.
Statewide, those numbers swelled to more than 2,800 overdose deaths.
“Obviously it’s devastating to hear these numbers. I always say one life lost is too many. So when we can hold people accountable that are putting poison into our community, that’s exactly what we have to do,” said Gannon.
While the DEA referred us to the U.S. Attorney’s office for further specifics of the raids, so far the federal prosecutor has not responded to our repeated requests for comment.
