Drug investigation nets nearly 30 arrests

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. -- Nearly 30 people have been arrested on state and federal drug charges in a sting near Fort Leonard Wood that resulted in the discovery of what is believed to be military munitions. Additional arrests are expected, officials said.

During the two-year investigation, an undercover state trooper purchased heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine and ecstasy.

Law enforcement officers also discovered what is believed to be a live hand grenade and an unspecified military explosive device among other firearms in the arsenal of the suspected drug dealers arrested Wednesday morning.

St. Robert police chief Curtis Curenton called the seized weapons "antiquated," likely kept by their owners as keepsakes from previous military clashes.

Numerous civilian contract employees of mess halls at Fort Leonard Wood were among those arrested, according to Pulaski County Sheriff J.B. King. No military personnel were believed to be among those arrested, he said.

Fourteen people face charges in Pulaski County, with four others charged in nearby Phelps County, court records show. On Thursday, federal officials announced the indictments of an additional nine people, including a Chicago man and one from Katy, Texas, in connection with the investigation.

The federal warrants were issued because many of the drug sales allegedly happened at Fort Leonard Wood. Most of the state charges were for felony-level drug possession or drug distribution, carrying penalties between five and 15 years in state prison.

All but one of the federal suspects were arrested -- the other was already in jail on other charges -- in what King called the county's biggest drug roundup since the 1970s.

"It's always satisfying to take some of the drug pushers out and arrest them," he said. "The drug traffic drives a lot of the other crime in the county."

King said he hopes some of the suspects will be able to bond out because the Pulaski County Jail is already overcrowded and can't handle the influx of new prisoners.