Ten Warren County residents were arrested this morning in a drug roundup resulting from a year-long investigation by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the Warren County Sheriff’s Department.

Additional arrests were expected today and Thursday, said Sheriff Martin Pace.

“This is people obtaining prescription medications by illegal means,” said Pace, who along with Floyd Baker, the DEA’s assistant special agent in charge of the investigation, announced the arrests. “Some of the defendants will also be charged with distribution.”

Baker and Pace said illegally diverted prescription drugs are outpacing the use of methamphetamine and cocaine.

“It’s the fastest growing drug problem we have,” Pace said. The drugs are readily available and highly addictive, he said.

“People don’t get the sense that this is illegal because it can be legally obtained,” Baker said. “It’s when you divert it from the original prescription that it becomes illegal.”

County Detective Chris Satcher is the lead investigator and is assigned to the DEA task force and handled the department’s role in the investigation, Pace said.

In the roundup that began just after sunrise, defendants were charged with abusing a variety of drugs including oxycodone and hydrocodone, which Pace described as semi-synthetic narcotic pain medications. Under the Controlled Substances Act, both are classified as Schedule II or III controlled medications with a high potential for abuse.

Those arrested and their charges are:

• Colum Woodson, 32, 2625 Alma St. — five counts of obtaining controlled substance by fraud

• Teresa Burchfield, 52, 1865 Ring Road — four counts of obtaining controlled substance by fraud

• Dianna Hodges, 24, 187 Grange Hall Road — sale of a controlled substance (hydrocodone)

• Dawn Burroughs, 57, 1309 River Bend Cove — five counts of obtaining controlled substance by fraud

• Allison Launius, 30, 2649 Oak Ridge Road, Lot 1 — sale of a controlled substance (hydrocodone)

• Albert Benson, 60, 915 Locust St. — five counts of obtaining controlled substance by fraud

• Joel Wright, 56, 1216 Bonelli St. — five counts of obtaining controlled substance by fraud

• Tim Buford, 51, 5615 Jeff Davis Road — two counts of obtaining controlled substance by fraud

• Christine Hicks, 42, 1512 Ethel St. — five counts of obtaining controlled substance by fraud

• Minor Ray, 50, 801 Clay St., Apt. 3E — five counts of obtaining controlled substance by fraud

“Obtaining a controlled substance by fraud is what we consider ‘doctor shopping,’” Pace said, “going doctor to doctor to doctor to obtain multiple prescriptions for the narcotic they are using or distributing.”

All 10 were at the Warren County Jail this morning, awaiting their initial court appearances.