JONESVILLE, V.A. - “I hope while these people are laying in jail during Christmas, they think of all those who won't have their family members with them this year because this poison has either sent them to prison or taken their life.”

Words spoken by Lee County Sheriff Gary Parsons following a undercover operation resulting in the arrest of six individuals on drug charges.

The Lee County Sheriff's Department - in cooperation with the Lee County Commonwealth Attorney's Office, the Southwest Virginia Drug Task Force, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms - conducted an undercover drug operation in the town of Pennington Gap earlier this week.

Parsons said undercover officers were operating out of a residence and made sells of placebo (fake) OxyContin to individuals who were buying for both personal use and resell.

Parsons said the officers made video recordings of the buys and then arrested the individuals involved. Those individuals include:

Michael John Pennington, 51, of Pennington Gap; Anita Kay Willis, 41, of Jonesville; Angela K. Mullins, 29, o Kingsport, Tenn.; Travis Charles Rosenbaum, 28, of Rogersville, Tenn.; Gerald Wayne Nichols, 50, of Ben Hur; and Richard Wayne Sanders, 44, of Dryden.

All six individuals were charged with attempting to possess a schedule II narcotic (OxyContin). T

The suspects were arraigned Wednesday morning in Lee County General District Court. Preliminary hearings for all were scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 25 in Lee County General District Court.

Parsons commended the officers involved as well as the spirit of the cooperation between the different agencies.

If anyone has information about illegal drug activity, they are urged to call the Sheriff's Department at 346-7777 or the anonymous T.I.P.S. line at 346-7706.