NINE CHARGED IN METH RING BREAKUP

Son Of State Senator Among Those Indicted

The son of a state senator and a Henderson attorney have been indicted in
what police in western Kentucky are calling a breakup of a giant
methamphetamine ring.

Michael David Herron, a Henderson real estate agent and son of Sen. Paul
Herron, was indicted on one count of intent to distribute methamphetamine
and five counts of aiding and abetting the drug's distribution, police said.

The 54-year-old Herron, attorney Edwin "Eddie" Jones and two area men,
Tommy Singleton, 42, of Beaver Dam and Jewell Sorrell, 25, of Drakesboro,
were arrested Wednesday night on the federal indictments. Police found some
cocaine on Jones, 37, as he was arrested in front of his downtown office in
Henderson, police said.

Herron, Jones, Singleton and Sorrell were jailed in the Henderson County
Detention Center on Wednesday night and taken to federal court in Owensboro
for arraignments Thursday. Herron was released on bond at the hearing.

Herron, who is also an auctioneer, could not be reached for comment Friday.
A secretary at his office said she didn't know when he would return.

Sen. Paul Herron, a Democrat from Henderson, reached by phone on Friday,
said he considered his son's arrest a private matter.

"I do not know anything about the situation. ... I am sorry this has
happened," said Henderson, who at 77 is the oldest member of the Kentucky
General Assembly.

The first arrests in the bust came in January, when five men were arrested
after a grand jury handed down indictments for conspiracy to distribute
meth, according to a statement from the Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force.

The drug ring is accused of distributing "hundreds of pounds of
methamphetamine in western Kentucky, specifically Hopkins, Christian and
Henderson counties," the statement said.

Two of the five men arrested after the January indictments, Paul G. Lloyd
of Madisonville and Gary W. Miller of Mortons Gap, operate a strip club in
Christian County called Club Paradise.

Cheyenne Albro, head of the Madisonville-based Pennyrile Task Force, said
the strip club is linked to the drug ring, but he couldn't say in what way
because of an "ongoing investigation." Albro said it's likely there will be
more arrests in the case.

Albro also said he couldn't talk about Herron's alleged role in the ring.

"All of those people (arrested) were part of a distribution ring for
methamphetamine in western Kentucky ... that's about all I can say," he said.

The investigation, began five years ago by local sheriff's offices, state
police and the Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force, was boosted by the arrival
of a new Drug Enforcement Administration office in Hopkins County, Albro said.