Thirteen people from West Virginia and Virginia, including parts of the Shenandoah Valley, as well as one from Maryland, have been indicted on drug and firearm charges after a large-scale sting by the Department of Justice.

According to United States Attorney Bill Powell, the individuals were indicted by a federal grand jury sitting in Wheeling on October 3.

The indictment included 28 counts overall and alleges a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Hampshire, Hardy, and Mineral counties from August 2017 to June 2018.

Those indicted are:

· Nathan E. Carpenter, age 28, of Elk Garden, West Virginia

· Michael Corey Alt, age 34, of Elk Garden, West Virginia

· Corey Bircher, age 25, of Elk Garden, West Virginia

· Tyler Allen Whitacre, age 25, of Elk Garden, West Virginia

· Michael Lee Gray, II, age 28, of Marshall, Virginia

· Brittany Baker, age 22, of Elk Garden, West Virginia

· Phillip Ryan Williams, age 24, of McCool, Maryland

· Levi Doman, age 31, of Keyer, West Virginia

· Joseph Nathaniel Hagan, 35, of Petersburg, West Virgnia

· Gypsy Rene Winkler, 19, of Keyser, West Virginia

· Michael Dwayne Cosner, 39, of Elk Garden, West Virginia

· Bryan Keith Presgraves, II, 20, of Luray, Virginia

· Steve William Gray, age 38, of Luray, Virginia

· Chance Allen Good, age 25, of Stanley, Virginia

Investigators seized over $14,000 during the investigation, as well as four firearms, a set of brass knuckles, a money counter, a security system, a street bike, and a piece of property on Elk Garden Highway in Elk Garden, West Virginia.

Elk Garden is a tiny town in Mineral County that, according to the 2010 census, has a population of less than 250. The six people arrested from the town would amount to over two percent of the town's population.

In Page County, the arrests came on October 10. According to the Luray Police Department, their officers worked with investigators from the Page County Sheriff's Office to assist ATF agents in arresting Chance Allen Good in the 800 block East Main Street, and then Kyle Quay Presgraves for possession of methamphetamine, after investigators seized about 113 grams in a home, as well as over $2,000 in cash.

During that incident, Ryan Steven Comer, not mentioned in the Department of Justice's list, was arrested for a probation violation.

“Every day, we see individuals who apparently still believe that they are above the law," said Powell. "They are not, and my office will relentlessly pursue and prosecute them. Firearms are often involved with these criminal activities, and our law enforcement partners and citizens are consequently at even greater risk. We will use all of our resources to prosecute those who continue to pose a danger to law enforcement and our communities."

The investigation was funded by the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program, which supplies federal funding and coordination to federal and state agencies investigating interstate drug trafficking.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a federal program reinvigorated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to bring together law enforcement agencies to crack down on violent crime, as well as drug crime.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Omps-Botteicher is prosecuting the cases on behalf of the government. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, The West Virginia State Police, and the Potomac Highlands Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force investigated.