Sedalia woman nabbed in Randolph County drug sweep

A Sedalia woman was arrested Friday morning on charges stemming from a two-year undercover investigation. 

Sedalia police officers arrested Jennifer Doherty, 33, of the 1000 block of South Kentucky Avenue, on a Randolph County warrant on a charge of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, a Class B felony. She was in Pettis County Jail in lieu of $45,000 bond. 

Doherty is among more than 40 defendants charged as a result of the investigation by the North Missouri Drug Task Force. Task force officers and other authorities began arresting suspects Thursday morning. A dozen of the suspects were already incarcerated, said Chris Brown, director of the North Missouri Drug Task Force. 

More than 30 suspects have been arrested since the warrant sweep began Thursday. 

“We wanted to take them down before Christmas,” Brown said. “We’ve had some violence erupting in the Moberly area and we were hoping this would calm things down a bit.”

The majority of the suspects are Moberly residents, but those facing charges include people from Columbia, Brookfield and Salisbury.

“Even though it was done in Moberly, the actual buys, these (charges) are as far reaching as Sedalia,” Brown said.

All of the undercover drug buys occurred in Moberly or Randolph County and included the purchase of methamphetamine, cocaine, crack, marijuana and prescription pills, Brown said.