Paul Penton, the Boga lusa City Council representative for District C from 2006 to 2010, was arrested at his home early Thursday on a charge of selling the painkiller Roxycontin. Bond was set at $75,000.

The arrest was part of a parishwide drug roundup conducted by the Wash ington Parish Sheriff’s Of fice, Rayburn Correctional Center and the Department of Probation and Parole. The targets were 19 people who had been “caught on audio and video selling drugs,” said Sheriff Randy Seal.

The arrests began at approximately 9 a.m., and by noon approximately half of the suspects were in custody, he said.

“If we don’t get them all, we will eventually,” Seal said.

“I know we’re getting the back end of the snake, but we have to start somewhere. These people were selling. We’d love to get the big guys who are bringing (drugs) in here. We just don’t have the money or the revenues. But we are a part of the Louisiana State Police Drug Task Force.”

The information gathering for the roundup started just after the last roundup in December, he said.

Seal said the arrests were made for two reasons.

“One, they did wrong,” he said. “And two, we need to let the public know that we’re out there working hard to clean up to protect them from drugs, and stealing and all the other vices that go along with them.

“And I want the criminals to know if they do a crime, we’re coming after you and we won’t rest until we find you.”

For additional information on the roundup and more on who was arrested during it, check out The Sunday News.