It began more than five years ago when Michael Wayne “Bubba” Carroll and William Donald “Bo” Bottoms were stopped in South Carolina.

It effectively ended with the arrest and conviction of Calvin “Spoke” Garner.

While Operation Burnout is officially over, some of the men arrested and convicted in the federal investigation began by the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office could be linked to other crimes, including murder, authorities said at a press conference today that announced the end of the campaign.

Chief Deputy Wes Tripp would only say there are three murder victims who could possibly be tied to those arrested in the campaign. He would not specify the victims or those who are being investigated further.

Frazier, left, and Tripp during the press conference.

Burnout represented slightly more than $300,000 in seizures that included property, powdered and crack cocaine from the some of the largest drug dealers in recent Halifax County history, authorities said.

It represented 5,035 months of federal prison time and included investigation by the FBI, SBI, ATF and local police, including Roanoke Rapids and Scotland Neck, Halifax County Sheriff Jeff Frazier said.

The operation began with complaints that began trickling in on different persons, Captain Jay Burch said. “We began investigation on the guys we had been getting complaints on.”

Those complaints blossomed into thick notebooks documenting each person, the sheriff’s displaying three notebooks this morning on Garner alone.

It began when Carroll and Bottoms were returning from Texas. “Everything mushroomed,” Burch said. “We met with the U.S. Attorney’s office.”

Stacks of case files.

The need to share information was encouraged, Frazier said, and the investigation began to lead to the largest drug dealers in the county.

Major Bruce Temple said the sheriff’s office used the resources of the federal court system including federal grand juries to develop conspiracy charges against the suspects.

Investigators also worked underlings. “Even though there is a no snitching rule, I can assure you there was nothing but snitching. For a lot of people this was all about money, from the small street dealers to the traffickers. That no snitching rule is an intimidation lesson,” Temple said.

While Carroll’s arrest began the operation, Burch said, “It could have been anyone of them.”

Said Frazier of Carroll, “He was always a player with us but I wouldn’t say one man was the target.”

Burnout began with Carroll's arrest, left, and effectively ended with Garner's.

The investigation took local officers to Texas, West Virginia, South Carolina and other places.

As the investigation unfolded, Temple said those arrested in Operation Burnout were determined to be close associates.

While some people have painted people like Garner, Elton Boone and Davino Putney as people who have given back to the community, Frazier said the crimes committed by those arrested and convicted, that could include murder, are not indicative of people who are giving back.

“Davino and Elton were known to be nice guys until we learned they were poisoning the community,” Temple said. “They were otherwise people you would classify as nice guys.”

Investigation, however, has led narcotics agents and feds to discover links to widely recognized cartels and the possible involvement in homicides.

Getting to the biggest drug dealers in Halifax County was not easy, Burch said. “One of the biggest challenges was Mr. Garner never got drugs on his hands.”

Putney, left, and Boone were calssified as nice guys.

Even Boone proved elusive until a traffic stop revealed he was going to receive a shipment.

Investigation, however, led detectives, federal agents and prosecutors to prove conspiracies, unpaid taxes and diverted assets, Frazier said.

Lieutenant Scott Hall said the arrests and convictions have changed the cocaine game in Halifax, Nash and Northampton counties, as well as Virginia where the men operated. “It’s hard to buy large amounts of powder. The costs are higher.”

Illegal prescription drug sales have filled the void, Burch said, as the cost of cocaine has skyrocketed to $1,500 an ounce from when it was once $800 an ounce.

“It’s affected the purity of it as they try to stretch it farther,” Hall said.

Frazier said he was pleased with efforts. “To me, it was a job well done. To the community they should feel a little safer.”