3 men arrested in St. Matthews after police seize 90 pounds of meth, fentanyl

LOUISIVLLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville police officers arrested three men Thursday, the culmination of a months long drug trafficking investigation.

St. Matthews Police Chief Barry Wilkerson said officers seized 90 pounds of methamphetamine as well as fentanyl and marijuana. Louisville Metro Police and Jeffersontown Police officers joined the effort to surveil several locations throughout the county, and the arrests were made "without incident."

"This is a perfect example of teamwork," Wilkerson said.

Police also seized six guns, $19,000 in cash, kilo presses, pill presses, digital scales, cutting agents and more.

"It's a very good arrest for this community," Wilkerson said. "It's a very good amount of drugs taken off the street for this community. Hopefully, lives will be saved."

Wilkerson called it's maybe the largest narcotic seizure in the history of the department.

"We rarely see that amount," he said. "Even the larger agencies rarely see that amount of seizures."

The three men — 27-year-old Coryontez Thomas, 32-year-old Tywan Pope, 34-year-old Antwan Turner — were arrested at 10 a.m. Thursday. According to their arrest citations, the men had worked together for at least the last three months to "traffic large quantities of narcotics" throughout Louisville.

"It just shows the citizens of this community that there is there is a lot of illegal narcotics in our community," said Ebert Haegele, a narcotics prosecutor for the Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office. "And we need police departments to go out and get those to save lives."

Their charges and the locations of their arrests are listed below:

Thomas:

Arrested in an apartment on Zorn Avenue in the Brownsboro Zorn neighborhood
Charged with:
- Trafficking carfentanyl or fentanyl
- Two counts of first-degree trafficking in controlled substance
- Complicity engaging in organized crime
- Drug paraphernalia

Pope:

Arrested in an apartment on Surefire Lane, off Factory Lane, in east Louisville
Charged with
- Trafficking carfentanyl or fentanyl
- Two counts of first-degree trafficking in controlled substance
- Complicity engaging in organized crime
- Possession of firearm by convicted felon
- Possession of handgun by a convicted felon
- Drug paraphernalia
- Possession of marijuana

Turner:

Arrested in an apartment on Mallard Creek Road in St. Matthews
Charged with:
- Trafficking carfentanyl or fentanyl
- Two counts of first-degree trafficking in controlled substance
- Complicity engaging in organized crime
- Possession of firearm by convicted felon
- Possession of handgun by a convicted felon
- Drug paraphernalia
- Possession of marijuana

Wilkerson said it wouldn't have been possible without a tip from the public.

"We understand the situation," he said. "We understand people are scared to come forward. But it's your community, and they always crime will rise to the level of community tolerates. Let's stop tolerating this."

Wilkerson said the investigation began back in April, and they're hoping to make at least one more arrest in the case.

Louisville Crime News: