Thirty-seven suspected drug dealers are facing charges following a sweeping drug operation in the area.
 
Attorney General Linda Kelly says the arrests are the result of an eight month cooperative investigation into alleged street-level drug dealing in the Altoona area and says all of the suspects were charged Tuesday following a street-level sweep in Blair County by state narcotics agents and local police.
 
Kelly says the defendants are charged with dealing a variety of different narcotics including; heroin, marijuana, Ecstasy, cocaine, and crack cocaine and says many of the defendants also allegedly sold and trafficked highly addictive prescription pain killers.
 
Over the course of the investigation, agents made a series of undercover purchases and controlled buys in and around Blair County.
 
Kelly says investigators were assisted in their undercover work by information forwarded from Blair County's "Push Out the Pushers" hotline (814-693-3020).
 
The Blair County Drug Task Force, which receives its funding from the Attorney General's Office, was established to conduct street-level drug investigations.
 
Kelly also thanks businesses and community leaders involved with Operation Our Town, a nonprofit formed by local business leaders to take back local neighborhoods and rid them of drugs and drug related crime.