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A federal grand jury sitting in Louisville has charged 34 Louisville and Southern Indiana residents in four separate indictments involving methamphetamine and fentanyl trafficking as well as firearms offenses it was announced by multiple agencies Tuesday.

Twenty-six of the 34 defendants have been arrested and were schedule to make their initial court appearances before a U.S. Magistrate Judge at U.S District Court in Louisville by Wednesday afternoon.  The other eight were still at large, as of Tuesday afternoon.

If convicted, all the defendants face minimum sentences ranging from 10 to 35 years, and each of them could receive a maximum of up to life in prison.  A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.  There is no parole in the federal system.   

The cases are being investigated by the FBI, HSI, the IRS-CI, and the Louisville Metro Police Department, with assistance from the Kentucky State Police, the Shepherdsville Police Department, the Jeffersonville, Indiana Police Department, and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation, the purpose of which is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States; using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.  Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky, Acting Special Agent in Charge Brian Jones of the FBI Louisville Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Rana Saoud of Homeland Security Investigations Nashville, Special Agent in Charge Bryant Jackson of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office, and Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel of the Louisville Metro Police Department made the joint announcement.