Two Indianapolis men were arrested on charges of dealing heroin and methamphetamine in Bartholomew County following a two-month-long investigation by the Bartholomew County Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
The two were arrested Thursday in Indianapolis, and the two men also face charges in Marion County.
Federal officers and local police arrested James Cantrell, 39, 1461 S. Leland Ave., Indianapolis, where they found methamphetamine and heroin, Bartholomew County Sheriff’s deputies said. Cantrell was taken into custody without incident.
Cantrell was arrested on two counts of dealing methamphetamine and two counts of dealing heroin, all Level 2 felonies. Cantrell will also face possession of methamphetamine and possession of heroin charges in Marion County, investigators said.
Cantrell remains in the Bartholomew County Jail in lieu of $700,000 bond.
Also arrested was Johnny Flaugher, 29, 307 S. Walcott St., Indianapolis, who was also taken into custody without incident. Flaugher is being held at the Bartholomew County Jail on one count of dealing methamphetamine, a Level 2 felony, and will also face a possession charge in Marion County, deputies said. Flaugher’s bail was set at $250,000.
Narcotics team and DEA agents have been working together on several drug investigations that are directly connected to Columbus and Bartholomew County, sheriff’s deputies said. A Bartholomew County Sheriff’s deputy, assigned to the DEA as a task force officer, has been a major factor in these investigations allowing the task force to track drugs from Bartholomew County back to the sources in Indianapolis and other areas, deputies said.
“By partnering with the DEA, we are able to go wherever the source is in order to stop drugs from coming into Bartholomew County,” said Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers.
The Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team, a combined unit of the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, the Columbus Police Department and the Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office, is proactively targeting the manufacturing and abuse of dangerous drugs in Bartholomew County.
