PINEVILLE — Several alleged drug dealers in Bell County woke up to their worst nightmare Thursday morning: a drug round-up. The Bell County Sheriff’s Department swept the Arjay and Straight Creek communities to serve their 22 warrants. At the end of the day, 12 were arrested, leaving 10 other warrants outstanding because those individuals were not at home.

Those arrested include: Darlene Williams, for trafficking a controlled substance, 1st degree; Christal Hampton, for trafficking a controlled substance, 2nd degree; Jeffrey Hollinsworth, for trafficking a controlled substance, 2nd degree; Jenny Bartarian, for trafficking a controlled substance, 2nd degree; Donald Wombles, for trafficking a controlled substance, 2nd degree; Ricky Napier, for trafficking a controlled substance, 1st degree; Hesman Allen, for trafficking a controlled substance, 2nd degree; B.J. Cavins, for two counts of trafficking a controlled substance, 1st degree; Buddy Teague, for trafficking a controlled substance, 2nd degree; Jeffery Brock, for trafficking a controlled substance, 2nd degree; Melvin Lewis, for two counts of trafficking a controlled substance, 1st degree; and Terry Hampton, for trafficking a controlled substance, 2nd degree. Those arrested are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Sheriff Bruce Bennett said the cases had been building for months.

“We constantly work on illegal drugs,” said Sheriff Bruce Bennett. He said that on this particular group of alleged dealers, “we’ve been working on this approximately eight months.”

“But we never stop,” added Bennett. “We don’t set a start date to do drug investigations. We work on it constantly. But it was a success.”

But the bust wasn’t just as simple as officers knocking on doors. A little luck was involved, too. At apartments in Newtown, the Sheriff’s deputies arrived with a warrant for Jeffrey Hollingsworth. But he wasn’t home. Moments later, a green Blazer driven by Hollingsworth pulled up beside the Sheriff and his deputies. In a few seconds, he was in handcuffs and charged with trafficking drugs.

Bennett claims that the drug dealers picked up yesterday had dealt everything from marijuana to Oxycontin.

“Most of it is prescription drugs, what we’re seeing today,” said Bennett.

Bennett is confident the bust will puncture an expanding market of drug dealers in Bell County.

“It will make a dent, rest assured. It won’t stop it. But if we didn’t keep a close vigil on the illegal drug dealers, it would be much worse.”

Assisting Bennett were: Chief Deputy David Cornelius, Deputies Carl Frith and K-9 Canto, David Brock, Max Graves, B.J. Brock, Doug Jordan, Kyle Dunn, Shane Stewart, Jimmy Stewart, Jack Owens, and Pineville Police Chief Bill Matthews. Anyone with information regarding drug trafficking can contact the Sheriff’s office at (606)337-3102.

Stephen Woodward is a Staff Writer for the Daily News. He may be contacted at swoodward@middlesborodailynews.com.