PRESTONSBURG - Operation UNITE detectives, alongside the Martin Police Department and the Floyd County Sheriff's Department, arrested five suspects this week.

The roundup began last Friday in circuit court, when two of the subjects were arrested after coming to court where one of them was to be sentenced on another case. In court, Robin Minix, 21, and Brenda Jane Goble, 27, both of Prestonsburg, received their indictments which charged each with six counts of drug possession and one charge of having a controlled substance in an improper container.

On Tuesday, three other suspects, all charged with trafficking in controlled substances, were arrested. Barbara Hicks, 42, of Garrett, was picked up at her Webb Street home. She was charged with six counts of drug trafficking, methadone and hydrocodone, and one charge of drug possession as well as a count of having a controlled substance in a nonprescription container. She allegedly made the drug sales on two dates in January.

Several hours after her arrest, Hicks' husband, Jasper, 46, turned himself into the authorities. He was charged with six counts of trafficking and one charge of possessing a controlled substance in a nonprescription container. His sales, also alleged to have been conducted in January, included such prescription drugs as methadone, hydrocodone, Soma, Valium and Percocet.

Ronald Stone, 68, of Martin, was the last subject arrested and was charged with six counts of drug trafficking and one count of prescription drugs in a nonprescription container. Stone's sales allegedly took place in October and November of 2005 and involved hydrocodone and oxycodone.

All of the suspects have been set for pretrial conferences on Sept. 14. Bonds for the Hicks and Stone were set at $50,000 full cash. Minix and Goble were issued partially secured bonds.