EDMOND —
An Edmond mother and son were among those arrested Monday during an operation that dismantled a large Mexican meth network in central Oklahoma, an official said.
On Monday, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and officers from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations served 30 arrest warrants at locations throughout central Oklahoma as part of a joint, year-long undercover operation, OBN spokesman Mark Woodward said.
Last summer, the OBN identified a large group of individuals distributing significant quantities of Mexican-produced meth in central Oklahoma, Woodward said.
Shipments included as much as 10 pounds of meth each week, Woodward said. This network was considered a major supplier of meth throughout the metro area, he said. The OBN continues to investigate the meth network and the agency has interviewed arrestees and received tips from the public, Woodward said.
The majority of the warrants were served in Oklahoma County, where individuals divided and resold the meth shipments in Oklahoma City, Edmond, Norman, Anadarko and Watonga, Woodward said.
Woodward said Jerrie Lavon Stilwell, 50, of Edmond, and her son Jacob Lynn Stilwell, 27, of Edmond, were arrested on OBN distribution of meth warrants.
OBN Director Darrell Weaver said the agency continues to work to dismantle these networks selling meth on Oklahoma streets. Covert operations were used to penetrate “a very significant group of drug violators,” which made large amounts of money while distributing their addictive substance, Weaver said.
“Methamphetamine is a destructive foe and we have to be vigilant in our fight to defeat the supply of this hideous drug,” Weaver said. “We must simply never give up our fight.”
David Marwell, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations, Dallas office, said the results of the joint investigation are evidence of the relationship his agency has with the OBN.
As of noon Monday, 17 defendants were in custody, arrested on a variety of complaints including conspiracy to traffic meth, Woodward said. At the time, all of them were transported to the Oklahoma County jail, he said.
In June, OBN announced that a large Mexican meth supply line into central Oklahoma had been cut. In that operation, law enforcement served 15 search warrants and 40 arrest warrants. Several times a week shipments of up to 2 pounds of meth came into central Oklahoma where they were divided and resold in cities including Shawnee, Tecumseh, Ardmore and Oklahoma City. That operation was part of a five-month-long undercover operation.
In November 2011, the OBN announced the results of a sting operation in several northeastern Oklahoma cities aimed at halting the illicit buying of pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient used to make meth. More than 300 individuals were arrested and 10 meth labs were seized. The area had seen an epidemic in meth labs in recent years.
OBN officials say meth destroys lives, tears families apart and costs millions of dollars in enforcement, incarceration and hazardous materials contamination costs. It costs the state hundreds, even thousands of dollars, each time a disposal crew is dispatched to a meth lab site.
marks@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 108
Local News
Related Photos
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PHOTOS PROVIDED Jerrie Lavon Stilwell, 50, left, pictured in this 2002 photo, and her son Jacob Lynn Stilwell, 27, both of Edmond, were arrested on distribution of methamphetamine warrants by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.
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