Couple arrested in LaFayette drug bust

photo Lacey Waters
photo Walter Waters

Authorities on Tuesday charged a couple living in LaFayette, Ga., in connection with a drug investigation that police say links them to an international narcotics distribution network.

Walter Mac Waters Jr., 42, and his wife, Lacey Siobhan Waters, 32, of 601 Culberson Ave. are being held at the Walker County Jail.

The narcotics distribution network they are charged in connection with stretches into multiple countries, and the couple is believed to have both imported and exported illegal drugs internationally from LaFayette, according to Patrick Doyle, commander of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force.

"It is an international distribution operation taking place overseas, but not in Mexico like normally expected," Doyle said.

Investigators searched the Waterses' residence and storage unit. Those searches led investigators to obtain two additional warrants to search the couple's car and a personal safe, Doyle said.

All four searches took place in LaFayette and led to the seizure of several thousand doses of various types of illegal narcotic prescription drugs and illegal steroids, along with $125,000 in cash.

"The investigation has been ongoing for over six months," Doyle said.

The investigation began with three separate investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspector and the Lookout Mountain Drug Task Force.

The FBI and U.S. Postal Inspector combined forces, and soon after met with the task force when they found out that it also had been investigating the possible drug network, according to Doyle.

"They are the only two people that we know of operating in this circuit," He called the suspects "small fish in the big scheme of things."

FBI and U.S. Postal Inspector personnel referred all questions to the drug task force.

Contact staff writer Kendi Anderson at kendi.anderson@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6592.

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