Federal agencies gave the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office $690,320.23 Monday out of money seized in a years-long synthetic drug investigation.
Operation Mega Buzz began with a 2012 search warrant on a home in Broken Arrow, and it grew to a multi-agency federal investigation of a criminal organization with a presence in eight cities across five states. The organization smuggled chemicals into the United States from China for use in manufacturing K2.
TCSO’s share is out of $1.2 million forfeited by one of two ringleaders. Sheriff Vic Regalado said the investigation was possible because of undercover federal agents.
"It's those individuals that I want to say thank you to, because it's their efforts and the fact that they put themselves on the line every day, and then we get to see the results of their hard work," Regalado said. "So, to them I say, 'Thank you.'"
The operation involved Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, the IRS and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
"Consequently, this criminal organization was completely dismantled in the United States. Thirteen subjects were eventually indicted. Eleven of these subjects have already pleaded guilty to the charges," said HSI Assistant Director Tatum King.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma Loretta Radford said synthetic drugs are a public health hazard that endangers young people.
"And the chemicals in these drugs are, in most cases, unknown. They're usually manufactured in unsupervised factories in China, which was the case in this particular indictment," Radford said.
Federal agencies routinely distribute money seized from criminal organizations to local law enforcement agencies.
