INDIANAPOLIS — Two inmates housed at different Indiana prisons used cellphones smuggled in by guards to run a drug ring that distributed methamphetamine and heroin, according to a federal indictment that charges 40 people in connection with the scheme.
Prosecutors, in the indictment unsealed Wednesday, allege that the purported ringleader, Oscar Perez, and an inmate at another prison, Justin Addler, even used the smuggled phones to hold conference calls with a third man to discuss ‘‘pooling their financial resources’’ to get a discount on heroin.
At least 17 people appeared in court Wednesday in Indianapolis after about 300 FBI agents fanned out across the state and made arrests. A judge ordered that the suspects remain in custody. Only one prison guard was among those charged, though the indictment alleges several were involved. Prosecutors declined to say if more charges were expected.
FBI Special Agent Wendy Osborne said two of the 40 people indicted, John Smith, 39, and Jermaine Coleman, 35, remained at large. She did not know the men’s hometowns.
Few details about the defendants were included in court documents, although prison records show Perez is serving time for murder and attempted murder at Westville Correctional Facility in northern Indiana, while Addler is housed at central Indiana’s Pendleton Correctional Facility on convictions including drug dealing.
In at least one call in May 2012, Addler stayed on the phone with a woman ‘‘throughout the duration’’ of a drug deal as she sold about 20 grams of heroin at a truck stop, according to the indictment.