Wayne County Drug Bust Rounds up Dozens of Offenders

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WAYNESBORO, Tenn.- This weekend was the biggest drug bust in Wayne County history. If you think rounding-up 73 suspects is tough, imagine counting 1500 pills like hydro-condone, morphine tablets, and Xanex.

The jail in Waynesboro is nearly full to capacity after 73 people were arrested, charged, and processed over the last 24 hours. Ten-months of good police work culminated. The sheriff called it Operation Big River.

"Those are about, like I said, a-dollar (per) milligram. So, you get 80 mg; $80 a-pill. And they'll buy them! People will buy them," said Ric Wilson, Wayne County Sheriff.

Sheriff Ric Wilson, with held from the Clifton, Tenn. Police department, netted himself a caseload of 112, and the countless undercover buys were kept under wraps even from the sheriff's own staff.

"We cut all the phones in the jail off first. No one could call out. And then, we emptied the jail. We emptied, down to 9-inmates is all we had here," said Wilson.

The sheriff was setting the stage for this sudden influx of offenders.

The sheriff says most of these drugs can be traced to legitimate, legal prescriptions. A few were probably fabricated. Some of the cases could show evidence of TennCare fraud, which could bring additional charges.

Sheriff Ric Wilson is also commending the FBI the TBI and the Hardin County Sheriff's department for helping make "Operation Big River" a major success.