Task Force breaks up cocaine operation

Residents from Charlotte, Lunenburg and Prince Edward counties are all facing charges after a task force operation this week. Search warrants were served in Keysville and in the Barnes Road area of Lunenburg County on Wednesday, Sept. 13.

According to information provided by the Tri-County Drug and Gang Task Force, the operation resulted in multiple ounces of cocaine, methamphetamine, firearms, narcotics paraphernalia and U.S. currency being seized.

The investigation also discovered “evidence of the distribution and manufacturing of crack cocaine,” task force officials said in a statement. “The search warrants were the result of a long-term investigation by task force investigators.”

As a result of Wednesday’s operation, multiple people were arrested and charged. That includes 44-year-old Christopher Lamont Jackson of Keysville, who faces charges of possession with the intent to manufacture a schedule I/II controlled substance. Also arrested was 41-year-old Meherrin resident Kristin McWayne Greene, who faces two counts of distribution of a schedule I/II controlled substance and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Assisting the Tri-County Drug and Gang Task Force were members of the Southside Drug and Gang Task Force, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, Lunenburg County Sheriff’s Office, the Virginia State Police, Bureau of Field Operations, Area 22 Office, Altavista Police Department K-9 unit, and the Lunenburg County Department of Social Services.

LOOKING AT CRIMINAL HISTORY

According to state records, this is the first major charge for Jackson. Previously in Charlotte County General District Court, he’s only been charged with illegal window tint and failure to wear a seatbelt. It’s a different story for Greene, however. He was in Charlotte County General District Court back in August, facing two counts of manufacturing and distributing a schedule I/II controlled substance. Ironically, he was scheduled to be in court this Friday, Sept. 15, for a hearing on those August charges.

A look at court records shows back in 2016, Greene was charged with manufacturing and distributing, along with selling drugs near a school, in Mecklenburg County. He was found guilty of the charges and sentenced to seven years in prison, of which he served three, with the rest suspended. In 2020 and 2021, he was arrested and charged again with manufacturing and distributing in Mecklenburg and Newport News, respectively. Both of those cases were dismissed, however.

INVESTIGATION IS ONGOING

Task Force officials said in a statement that the work isn’t over, adding that more arrests are expected in the weeks to come. Task force officials also thanked the Lunenburg and Charlotte sheriff’s offices for their cooperation.

The Tri-County Drug and Gang Task Force is composed of narcotics investigators from the Charlotte and Lunenburg County Sheriff’s Offices and Virginia Department of State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Appomattox Field Office.

Anyone with information on illegal drug use and distribution in the region is asked to contact the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office at 434-542-5141, Lunenburg County Sheriff’s Office at 434-696-4452, Lunenburg Crime Solvers at 434-696-3100, or the Virginia State Police Drug Hotline at 1-800-553-DOPE.

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