Chapman announces largest drug bust in Loudoun history

By Valerie Cury

At a May 26 press conference at the U.S.  Attorney’s Office in Alexandria, law enforcement officials announced the completion of the largest drug bust in Loudoun County history. The operation stemmed from an investigation that began in Loudoun in 2017.

In February 2020, Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office detectives assigned to the Drug Enforcement Administration High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force seized $6.5 million worth of drugs, guns, and cash connected to the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. 

Since May 2017, investigations under Operation Angels Envy led to the takedown of seven violent drug trafficking organizations operating in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, their Sinaloa Cartel supply cell, as well as their Los Angeles-based transportation network, which used tractor trailers and shipping crates to move tons of methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl, and other drugs across the country.

These drug trafficking organizations would then transfer profits and trafficked firearms back to the Sinaloa Cartel. Investigations into the takedown of the transportation network and supply cell led to the dismantling of other drug trafficking organizations in California, Missouri, Ohio, New England, and New York. On a monthly basis, these organizations distributed hundreds of kilograms of deadly drugs, like fentanyl and methamphetamine, throughout the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.

Operation Angels Envy culminated in one of the largest takedowns in the area – with 33 individuals charged, and seizure totals of 473 pounds of methamphetamine, 42 kilograms of fentanyl enough to kill over 21 million people – more than the population of D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and surrounding areas, combined), nine kilograms of heroin, 129 kilograms of cocaine, 5,100 pounds of other drugs, over $5.3 million in U.S. currency, 114 firearms, many of which were assault weapons, and over $700,000 in jewelry and vehicles.


Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alexandria.

“Much like these drugs having a far-reaching impact in our country, I am proud to say the work of our detectives in Loudoun County in combination with other DEA Task Force members had an even further impact on the operations of the Sinaloa Cartel,” said Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman at the press conference.

“Our law enforcement community must continue to fight this scourge and protect our citizens, and I am glad that we have such dedicated partners in our law enforcement profession that put their lives on the line every day to do just that,” said Chapman.

Items seized in Loudoun during the investigation included 50 kilograms of cocaine, 2 kilograms of fentanyl, 1 kilogram of heroin, 6 pounds of marijuana, 150 grams of crack cocaine, 100 fentanyl pills, 7 firearms – including one assault rifle, and $1.4 million in cash

Others at the press conference included Acting U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, Special Agent in Charge Jarod Forget of the DEA Washington Division, and LCSO First Lieutenant Paul Loconti.

Parekh said it was operations like Operation Angels Envy that “keep our community safe.”

Last year, an estimated 90,000 people died from drug overdoses nationally, mostly from opioids – an increase of around 27 percent from the previous year. “Unfortunately, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. accounted for almost 5,000 of those opioid overdose deaths. We seized enough Fentanyl to kill every man, woman, and child in Loudoun County- two times over,” said Chapman.

In Loudoun County, there have been five suspected opioid fatalities in 2021, as of April 15, with two opioid fatalities investigated during the same time period in 2020.  

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1 Comment

  1. leo on May 30, 2021 at 9:04 am

    taxes finally being used well. Leave the weed take care of the snakes