By Jeff Noble

Editor

A Breathitt County coal truck driver was found carrying more than a load of black gold last Thursday afternoon, after he was arrested at the mine site where he worked at.

Following an investigation by detectives from Operation UNITE, 30-year-old Dana Audie Francis of Buckhorn Road was arrested and charged with two counts of First Degree Trafficking in a Controlled Substance.

Mike Luttrell, the manager of UNITE’s Kentucky River Drug Task Force, said that additional charges would be presented to the Breathitt County Grand Jury. “We have purchased pills from Mr. Francis at the strip mine on several occasions. We consider him to be a fairly large dealer in the area.”

Officers from the Jackson Police Department and UNITE went to the International Coal Group (ICG) mine site on Russell Fork, where they knew Francis would be driving a coal truck. There they would serve an arrest warrant for one count of trafficking from a drug sale that was made back in the latter part of January.

After Francis was arrested, law enforcement authorities discovered during a search 199 OxyContin (40mg) pills, with a street value of $11,940. $1,419 in cash was also found during the search, placing the total value of the drugs and money at $13,359. He was then arrested on a second drug trafficking charge.

Francis was lodged in the Three Forks Regional Jail near Beattyville.