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Last updated on Thursday, August 23, 2012
(INDIANAPOLIS) - Forty people have been indicted on charges that prison guards and inmates helped run a methamphetamine and heroin ring from Indiana correction facilities.
The FBI conducted early morning raids across the state Wednesday involving 300 SWAT agents at numerous locations.
According to the indictment, between June 2011 and August, inmates coordinated buying meth, heroin, PCP and acid from California and Chicago and having it shipped to Indiana, where correction officers would smuggle some of the drugs and cellphones behind bars.
The 31-page indictment lists 40 defendants and alleges that two inmates, Oscar Perez and Justin Addler, coordinated the drug ring with the help of correctional officers at at least three state prisons -- the Westville Correction facility, the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility and the Pendleton Correctional Facility are mentioned in the indictment.
The drugs were distributed all over central and southern Indiana, the report said.
According to the indictment, two of the drug deals occurred at Keystone at the Crossing.
"It seems like a place that wouldn't be happening," one Keystone shopper told RTV6's Drew Smith. "I come by here all the time, seems like a safe neighborhood."
At least 17 defendants appeared in federal court in Indianapolis on Wednesday afternoon.
The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment on the case.
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