BUSTED - AUTHORITIES BREAK UP DRUG TRAFFICKING RING, CALLED LARGEST
EVER IN AREA, CHARGE MULTIPLE DEFENDANTS

After more than 15 years of operating out of Upper East Tennessee,
what has been called the largest drug trafficking organization ever
to exist in the area was dismantled by federal and local law
enforcement agencies.

Authorities announced the takedown at a news conference on Friday at
Johnson City's Downtown Centre, where officials said they have been
working for a decade on the investigation, which culminated in a
12-count, multidefendant indictment in federal court.

Thirteen individuals were charged in connection with the
investigation, including Mark Allen Saults and Richard Glen Milburn,
whom authorities called the "ringleaders" of the drug operation.

The drugs -- an estimated 25,000 pounds of marijuana, 22 pounds of
cocaine and 50 pounds of methamphetamine -- were brought into the
United States from Mexico and South America and then transported to a
rural area in Georgia before arriving in the Tri-Cities area during a
10-year period from January 1995 to December 2005, officials said.

"Through a distribution network in Georgia, they were able to bring
those drugs into the area primarily through the Jonesborough area,
through a farm in Limestone," said Russ Dedrick, acting U.S. attorney
for the Eastern District of Tennessee. "Then (Saults and Milburn)
turned around and sold these to their distributors."

The drugs allegedly were being filtered through Milburn's working
dairy farm at 1075 Old Milburnton Road.

Officials estimated the street value of the drugs to be in the
millions, with the marijuana alone worth about $25 million.

"These are very large quantities of drugs," Dedrick said. "We very
rarely see 50-pound seizures of meth."

Along with Saults and Milburn, six other local individuals were
charged for their alleged involvement in the drug-trafficking ring.
Michael Damon Bawgus, Shannon Luttrell, Robert Anthony Hampton, Derek
Anthony "Tony" Keys, James Franklin DeVotie and Travis Brown were all
charged with multiple drug offenses.

Two others --Victor Hugo Vargus and Louis Antonio Medina -- were
arrested in Georgia for their alleged involvement in the operation,
while authorities were continuing to search for three additional
individuals. Law enforcement officials do not suspect that Doug Keith
Davis, Sidney Charles Terrell and Eric Phillip Shawback are in
Tennessee, but they are continuing to search for them elsewhere.

"We believe they may be in Georgia or else in the border areas," said
Dedrick, who encouraged anyone with information regarding their
whereabouts to contact a local law enforcement agency immediately.
"These people are federal fugitives."

The 13 defendants each face a minimum mandatory term of 10 years in
prison with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, and a fine of up
to $4 million. Several of the charged individuals made their initial
appearances before U.S. Magistrate Dennis Inman in Greeneville on
Wednesday. They will appear for detention hearings in the near future
while the remaining defendants will make their initial appearances as
they are arrested, authorities said.

The breakup of such a large drug organization was the result of a
cooperative effort among several law enforcement agencies including
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, the FBI, the Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation, the 1st Judicial District Drug Task Force, the
Washington County Sheriff's Office and the Jonesborough Police Department.

"I couldn't point to a finer example of cooperation. This has
resulted in a dismantling of a major drug organization that I'm sure
has its tentacles out into our homes and children throughout East
Tennessee," Dedrick said. "This case is being prosecuted in federal
court but could not have happened without the law enforcement
agencies in Upper East Tennessee."

On Friday, local authorities celebrated the ring's dismantling,
calling it a huge success in the fight against drugs.

"There's not an officer probably in Washington County, Jonesborough
and even Johnson City, for that matter, that has worked for the last
15 years that has not heard Mark Saults' name in connection with drug
activity," said Jonesborough Director of Public Safety Craig Ford.
"He's off the streets today and hopefully with the federal charges
he'll be off the streets for a long time."

But the recent success is not the end of the battle, Dedrick said.

"We have a large number of individuals under investigation as we
speak," he said. "We hope that this will have a major impact,
especially in giving us the intelligence of finding other suppliers."