A Floyd County man is expected to receive 12 years in jail after pleading guilty to multiple drug trafficking charges last week.

Russell Johnson, 58, of Wheelwright, pled guilty to five counts of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance and three counts of second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance during a pre-trial conference hearing in Floyd County Circuit Court on Friday, September 18.

As part of the plea agreement, Commonwealth Attorney Brent Turner agreed to dismiss two misdemeanor counts of third-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

Johnson was remanded into custody in the Floyd County Detention Center while he awaits final sentencing before Judge Danny Caudill.

Between January and May 2008 Johnson sold prescription narcotics on six different occasions to law enforcement officers from Operation UNITE and the Kentucky Attorney General¹s Department of Criminal Investigation unit. The drugs purchased included Hydrocodone, Oxycodone and Methadone.

Officers from four agencies went to Johnson¹s residence on Route 306 in Wheelwright on August 6 to serve arrest warrants. Johnson was located across the street at Russell¹s Game Room, a small store and amusement center that he operated.

After Johnson¹s arrest a search was conducted at both his home and store.
More than 300 prescription pills ­ a variety of controlled substances including Oxycodone, Methadone, Hydrocodone, Alprazlam (Xanax) and Diazepam (Valium), Clonazepam (Klonopin) and Tramadol (Ultram) ­ and approximately $1,900 in cash was discovered in the store.

According to the plea agreement, Johnson will receive 10 years for the first-degree trafficking charges and two years for the second-degree charges. He will have to serve eight years in jail, with the remaining four years to be under supervised probation.