DALTON, Ga. — With drug arrests dominating the arrest reports of local law enforcement agencies, one of the rising sectors of drug arrests have been related to black-market prescription drug sales.

Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office officials say a four-month, “covert operation” into prescription drug abuse in the county has resulted in the arrest of 27 people. More arrests are expected.

“There is just a lot more of it seemingly than it used to be,” Capt. Rick Swiney said Thursday. “We are having more overdoses and more people arrested. We work close with pharmacies and they alert us and we notify them if there is someone doing what we call ‘doctor shopping.’ It is a process to track them down.”

Doctor shopping is a practice of visiting multiple doctors seeking prescriptions for drugs.

“Prescription drug abuse is the use of a prescription medication in a way not intended by the prescribing doctor,” Sheriff Scott Chitwood said in a press release announcing the operation. “We are seeing more arrests and overdoses (many involving deaths) due to illegal use of prescription medication than ever before. The prescription drugs most often abused include opioid painkillers, sedatives, anti-anxiety medications and stimulants.”

Swiney said the most prominent drugs sold were oxycodone and hydrocodone. During the investigation, the county’s narcotics unit found numerous people obtaining prescriptions from physicians “for various reasons and instead of taking the medication they were selling the medication,” according to Chitwood.

Swiney said while some of the 27 knew each other and some were even listed with the same address, this was not a widespread, coordinated operation.

“A lot of them know each other, but they were not connected with each other,” Swiney said. “Most of them had prescriptions, but instead of taking their prescriptions like they should have been, they were selling them instead.”

On Wednesday, sheriff’s investigators and agents with the Department of Community Supervision started arresting suspects. So far, 27 people have been arrested. Sixteen were directly involved in the sale of prescription medication, and another eight were involved with the distribution or possession of meth and three had violated their parole. Warrants are outstanding on another nine suspects. They will be arrested when they are found.

All 27 suspects are currently being held in the Whitfield County Jail without bond.

The 27 suspects arrested in the operation are:

• Ray Bowen Jr, 45, of 342 Stacy Road, Dalton

Charged: Sale of schedule 1 or 2 drugs

• Allen Lee Brown, 56, of 113 Old Lake Road, Tunnel Hill

Charged: Possession of meth and possession of drug-related objects

• Timothy Wayne Campbell, 49, of 903 Cascade Drive, Dalton

Charged: Sale of schedule 2 drug, possession of marijuana (during his arrest)

• Erica Gwen Caudill, 30, of 226 Levi Circle, Chatsworth

Charged: Possession of meth, on felony banishment sentence for meth

• Sicillio David Charo, 56, of 1727 Needham Drive, Dalton

Charged: Sale of schedule 3/4/5 drugs

• Anthony James Clark, 26, of 117 Downing St., Dalton

Charged: Parole violation

• Tony Lamar Cleary, 54, of 240 Carbondale Road S.W., Dalton

Charged: Sale of schedule 1 or 2 drugs

• Kenneth Dale Coker, 56, of 276 Chappell Way, Dalton

Charged: Sale of schedule 1 or 2 drugs

• Kevin Gene Defriece, 42, of 727 River Road, Chatsworth

Charged: Sale of schedule 2 drugs (in possession of meth at the time of arrest)

• Bridgett Loren Elswick, 33, of 410 Jessie St., Dalton

Charged: Sale of schedule 1 or 2 drugs

• Christina Yvonne Eure, 53, of 506 Parkside Place, Dalton

Charged: Sale of schedule 1 or 2 drugs

• Bruce Edward Gazaway, 47, of 2089 Dawnville Road, Dalton

Charged: Possession of meth

• Michael David Hagan, 59, of 407 W. Franklin St., Dalton

Charged: Parole violation

• Hector Lorenzo Hernandez, 22, of 4719 Tibbs Bridge Road, Dalton

Charged: Possession of schedule 2 drugs

• Carla Ruth Herrera, 53, of 1664 Stinnett Drive, Dalton

Charged: Possession of meth (in possession of additional meth at the time of arrest)

• Rickey Herrera, 57, of 1664 Stinnett Drive, Dalton

Charged: Sale of schedule 1 or 2 drugs

• Uwe Joseph Munzel, 55, of 177 Travis Way, Dalton

Charged: Sale of schedule 1 or 2 drugs

• Joseph Lynn Patterson, 47, of 303 Frontier Trail, Dalton

Charged; Possession with intent to distribute meth

• Wendi Lynn Pedigo, 50, of 4271 Troy Drive, Dalton

Charged: Sale of schedule 1 or 2 drugs

• Marcia Lee Petty, 60, of 129 Aztec Way, Rocky Face

Charged: Sale of schedule 1 or 2 drugs

• Gregory Lee Ratcliff, 47, of 755 Lee Bryant Road N.E., Dalton,

Charged: Possession of meth, possession of tolls for commission of a crime, two outstanding felony warrants (probation and failure to appear)

• Kenneth Lamar Saunders, 54, or 202 Meadowdale Drive, Dalton

Charged: Sale of schedule 1 or 2 drugs

• Amanda Nicole Smith, 32, of 200 Autumn Court, Dalton

Charged: Sale of schedule 1 or 2 drugs

• Tina Michelle Thomison, 44, of 2199 McCamish Road, Dalton

Charged: Possession of meth, possession of schedule IV (two counts)

• Matthew Thomas Watson, 33, of 168 Maruine St., Dalton

Charged: Probation violation, failure to appear warrants (in possession of meth at the time of arrest)

• Thomas Williams, 58, of 910 Riverbend Drive, Dalton

Charged: Sale of schedule 1 or 2 drug (in possession of meth at the time of arrest)

• Edwin Voneric Wilson, 47, of 221 Nashville St., Dalton

Charged: Parole violation