Officers from several agencies spent the day checking names off their list of suspected drug dealers.

It wasn't the first time police have paid Ervin Pence a visit. They say they've arrested him on drug trafficking charges before and that he's one of the most talked about dealers in the county.

“He was one of the top ones on our tip lines, so we got him and I don't think we'll see Ervin for a while,” Perry County Sheriff Les Burgett said.

Pence says he doesn't have a response to the accusations.

“I don't know what to say ma'am,” Pence said.

After police found marijuana in pence's home they headed to Jessie Young's house.

Officers plan to check all the names off their list in an effort to fight Perry County’s drug problem.

“It's destroying our young people, our families. It’s top of my priorities to get drug dealers off the street,” Burgett said.

“Putting them on rock bottom so to speak. I mean obviously for the next few weeks or months, these people are going to lay in jail and evaluate their life and obviously selling drugs, hopefully it will come to them that was a bad choice,” Operation UNITE Law Enforcement Director Dan Smoot said.

Smoot says if you have a drug problem you need to get treatment immediately and he says if you can't afford it, operation unite will help.

“So many people use that as an excuse, I can't afford treatment. We take that excuse away,” Smoot said.

Officers say most of the drug suspects they arrest are repeat offenders and that the drug problem also leads to 85 percent of other crimes in the county, like robberies.

Officers say they expect to arrest hundreds of suspects before the end of the year. If you have any information about a suspected drug dealer, call police or the Operation UNITE tip line at 1-800-424-4382.

Those charged in connection with the investigation were:

• Jim “Jimbo” Baker, age 28, East Main Street, Hazard, first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance (second offense).

• Betty Boggs, age 49, Pratt Mountain Road, Viper, second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

• Edna Stacy Campbell, age 47, Montgomery Creek Road, Vicco, second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

• Fred Caudill, age 46, Highway 476, Bulan, first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance (second offense).

• Darrell Jones, age 50, Highway 476, Bulan, first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

• Robert “Rob” Jones, age 51, Highway 476 North, Bulan, four counts first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

• Brian J. Morris, age 32, Big Willard Road, Busy, two counts first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

• David Padgett, age 52, Highway 451, Hazard, first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

• Ervin D. Pence, age 41, Dwarf, second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance and persistent felony offender.

• Jessie Young, age 46, Highway 476, Bulan, first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

For more information about Operation UNITE visit their website at www.operationunite.org.