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Park DuValle drug investigation leads to 15 indictments, police say
A Jefferson County grand jury indicted 15 people in connection with alleged drug sales along Hemlock Street in west Louisville. Police say the investigation focused on crack cocaine and included allegations that dealers tried to involve children in the network.
Fifteen people have been indicted in an alleged drug-trafficking operation centered on Hemlock Street in Louisville’s Park DuValle neighborhood, according to police.
A judge read the names of those indicted Monday morning. The charges followed an investigation by the Louisville Metro Police Department’s Second Division Impact Unit, which police said ran from March through September and focused largely on crack cocaine.
Police said the alleged activity involved the owner and two employees of JJ’s Food Mart, at the corner of Hemlock Street. Maj. Russell Miller of LMPD’s Second Division said the three were accused of distributing drugs from the store and allowing dealers to operate outside the property.
Investigators also alleged that some dealers tried to sell drugs to children in the area or recruit them into the distribution operation. Miller said police pursued the case in part because children travel through the neighborhood to school and families should not have to contend with drug activity in their community.
The defendants are expected to return to court in January. The indictments are allegations, and the charges have not been proven in court.