CENTRALIA, Ill. – Over the train tracks and between the trees is where the quiet usually lives in Centralia, Illinois.
But pushers and peddlers broke the peace and created chaos in this small city of 12,000 people.
"The meth was widespread in Centralia and a widespread heroin conspiracy," said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Steve Wigginton. He said six meth cooks set up shop.
"One cook lived in a single wide trailer that had a high fence and surveillance cameras. He had a command center in his living room," said Wigginton.
Three heroin dealers also operated in Centralia.
"We had one person in Chicago, we had a primary seller in Centralia and he had two retailers," he said.
Crime went way up. Wigginton said guns and drugs go hand in hand. He said property crimes at homes and in cars also went way up.
Wigginton said he sent the FBI and federal prosecutors to crack down after two judges in Centralia asked him to help get the heroin and meth problem under control. He said local law enforcement, Centralia Police, were invaluable. They had the intelligence and the names of the buyers and dealers.
The FBI was able to track the drug makers and dealers for a year until they took them down.
"There's no friends in the drug trade, everybody talks," said Wigginton.
He said 27 people with long criminal records pleaded guilty. He said most of them served little or no time for their prior offenses for everything from burglary to sexual abuse.
"You can make an impact on the community when you take 27 meth makers and heroin dealers out of that community," said Wigginton.
He believes the arrests and prosecutions aren't over yet.
He also said many other small towns are experiencing the same issues as Centralia. He said the drug dealers targeted Centralia because there were more heroin users there than in any other small towns.
