In addition to the 65 defendants from mostly the Shamokin-Mount Carmel area, 25 additional men and women were charged with drug offenses in the northern part of the county, including Sunbury to Milton, in what was the first major drug bust of the year.

Members of the Northumberland-Montour Drug Task Force began apprehending defendants at 7 a.m. at their homes, places of employment and other locations before parading them into command centers at Ralpho Township Community Gym in Elysburg and Sunbury Municipal Building. The defendants were processed at the command posts by law enforcement personnel before being arraigned on various drug offenses by Magisterial District Judges Hugh Jones of Mount Carmel, John Gembic III of Shamokin and Benjamin Apfelbaum of Sunbury.

Bills and his son, David J. Bills, 27, same address, face eight and 12 counts of drug-related charges, respectively, which were among the most filed against the defendants in the Shamokin-Mount Carmel area. Most of the charges filed against the father and son involved methadone, a painkiller that's also used as an anti-addictive treatment for heroin and other opioid dependency.