ASHEVILLE — Flanked by the region's top law enforcement officials, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Thursday announced the arrest of more than 76 people connected to the sale and distribution of drugs on tribal land in Western North Carolina.

Zinke — whose agency houses both the National Parks Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs — delivered a stern warning to anybody dealing drugs on reservations across the country.

"The message is clear: Indian Country is off limits to drugs," he told media gathered in a conference room inside the Veach-Baley Federal Building. "We will find you. We will hunt you down. And we will prosecute you."

Undercover operation

Those arrested in the massive undercover drug operation in WNC announced Thursday know that to be true.

Twelve of the 76 people arrested in connection with the Department of Interior's Opioid Reduction Task Force operation now face federal drug charges — most of which actually regard the possession of methamphetamine, which is not an opioid.

The rest of those arrested in the task force's operation, which also included Drug Enforcement Agency officers and local law enforcement agencies, face state charges.

At least one-third of the arrested — 24 people — are charged with selling or delivering heroin, according to records provided to the Citizen Times by U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray's office.

Another 10 people were charged with conspiring to distribute heroin and with selling or delivering other opioid drugs, such as oxycodone, a prescription painkiller.

"Time for talk is over"

William Stetzer, first assistant to U.S. Attorney Murray, said Thursday that "by all counts, Native American tribes are among the hardest hit" by the opioid epidemic sweeping the nation.

"Time for talk is over," he said. "It's time now for action."

The action to which Stetzer referred has to include the systematic dismantling of drug-distribution networks and the prosecution of those found to be supporting them, he said.

In addition to the 76 people arrested during the seven-month DOI operation, a separate two-year investigation headed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the DEA netted 56 arrests in North Carolina Indian Country — a term that refers to Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian land that spans Swain, Jackson, Cherokee, Haywood and Graham counties.

Indian Country is a term that generally applies to all reservation land under the jurisdiction of the federal government.

Together, the operations led to the seizure of 220 pounds of marijuana, 18 pounds of meth, 3.8 pounds of heroin and 270 tablets of Fentanyl and Oxycodone — worth a combined $1.82 million on the street, according to U.S. Attorney Murray.

"We're losing a generation"

Zinke said said the WNC operation was one of eight similar sweeps targeting drug dealers on reservations in other states, including Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico and Washington.

Principal Chief Richard Sneed of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians thanked the federal government and all of the law enforcement agencies involved in the operation. But he also cautioned that the opioid epidemic is one that "we can't arrest our way out of."

"If we don’t combat this and treat it as the medical crisis that it is, and instead just incarcerate people, we’re not dealing with the problem. It has to be a holistic approach," Sneed said, pointing out that drug abuse and mental health problems typically go hand in hand.

"We can’t treat one without treating the other, otherwise they’re going to go right back to this ... If we don’t deal with this, we’re losing a generation.”

Federal Charges

Dontavius Juan Cox, 26, of Sylva, N.C. Possession with intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl

Derek Wilson Driver, 26, of Cherokee, N.C. Possession with intent to distribute fentanyl

David Charles Fisher, 56, of Bryson City, N.C. Possession with intent to distribute meth (two counts)

Timothy Mark Grady, 43, Bryson City, N.C. Possession with intent to distribute meth

Kandace Rhean Griffin, 29, of Cherokee, N.C. Possession with intent to distribute oxycodone (two counts) and heroin

Kenneth Dean Griffin, 51, Cherokee, N.C. Possession with intent to distribute meth (three counts)

Kevin Dewayne Huskey, 47, of Bryson City, N.C. Possession with intent to distribute meth

Saryna Michelle Miller, 22, of Bryson City, N.C. Possession with intent to distribute meth

Jeremy Dwayne Morton, 21, of Bryson City, N.C. Possession with intent to distribute meth

Javier Fernando Perez, 27, of Norcross, Georgia Possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and meth

David William Smith, 30, of Sylva, N.C. Possession with intent to distribute meth (two counts)

Dee Anna Wike, 45, of Cherokee, N.C. Possession with intent to distribute meth (two counts), manufacturing meth in residence where children reside



*Provided by U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray's office