MARTINSBURG, W. Va. — Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) has honored two Assistant United States Attorneys from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia and members of the Eastern Panhandle Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force for an investigation that dismantled a tri-state drug trafficking operation.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lara Omps-Botteicher and Kyle Kane received the Outstanding Community Impact Investigation award at the HIDTA ceremony in Baltimore for their contribution in shutting down a violent criminal enterprise that was distributing large quantities of fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. A total of 82 co-conspirators were indicted and agents seized nine kilograms of fentanyl/heroin, large amounts of crystal methamphetamine, cocaine, $250,000 in cash and other assets.
“I express my heartfelt thanks to HIDTA for honoring these Assistant United States Attorneys and members of the task force who work tirelessly to remove fentanyl and these other agents of death from our community,” Acting United States Attorney Randolph J. Bernard said. “The AUSAs and the task force members are on the front lines, days, nights, and weekends using their skills and the most advanced technology to serve the mission of eliminating these poisons and the organizations who distribute them from our country.”
The Eastern Panhandle Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force is a HIDTA-funded initiative and consists of members from the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the West Virginia State Police-Bureau of Criminal Investigations; the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office; the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office; the Martinsburg Police Department; the Ranson Police Department; and the Charles Town Police Department.
This operation is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation.