EUTAW – Greene County Sheriff Johnny Isaac and his men were able to make an arrest Monday morning on a drug trafficking case they had been working for some time. The break in the case came when David Pickens Jr., of the Boligee community, turned himself in to authorities to face drug charges.

The Greene County Sheriff’s Department had sought after Pickens Jr. after they arrived at his residence last Thursday to arrest him. Pickens was not home when officers arrived, but the news got to him quickly.

Sheriff Isaac said the arrest had been part of a widespread team effort.

“The ABI, DEA and Greene County Sheriff’s Department all combined to work on this,” Isaac said.

Isaac said the original plan had been to pick Pickens up last week, but when officers arrived at his house there was no sign of him.

“The ABC people served a search warrant on the residence of David Pickens Jr. down on Deliberate Lame in Boligee off County Road 20,” Isaac said. “He was not there.”

Isaac said a lot of under cover work went into raising charges against Pickens. He said after making a purchase, officers were finally ready to move in.

“The search warrant was served because of a buy that had been made,” Isaac said. “We had purchased drugs there and the search warrant was obtained and served Thursday evening.”

After the warrant was served Pickens knew his days as a free man were numbered. Rather than remain on the run he decided to do the right thing and come clean.

“After that evidence was collected and he turned himself in early this morning,” Isaac said. “We have him in custody.”

Isaac said this was far from over. Early Monday officers were in the same vicinity in hopes of making another arrest.”

“Our agents and other agents are serving another search warrant right now,” Isaac said. “It is probably connected. It may be his brother. It is in the same community.”

Isaac was unable to reveal what was confiscated during the search. He said they would know more about that when the search is complete.

“We can’t say what all we found just yet,” Isaac said. “We have to get it all together and then we can release that information.”

When asked if Pickens would be charged with trafficking Isaac said he felt that would be the case. However, Isaac said a lot depends on what happens throughout the search.

“Most likely yes he will be charged with trafficking,” Isaac said. “We will know more about that soon.”

Isaac said his men and other agents hoped people would take this as a warning to find a legitimate way to make a living.