Eleven local citizens have been charged in a conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine.

Federal indictments were unsealed Monday. They named the 11 arrested on drug charges, as well as two people involved in an armed robbery and one alleged to have committed federal firearms offenses. The indictments were filed May 18.

"The alleged drug conspiracy lasted from about 2007 to May 17, 2010, and is alleged to have been carried out within the Western District of North Carolina, in Anson and Union Counties," according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Cedrick Little, 20,Kendrick Parsons, 28, Shaun Burns, 31, Adrian Parker, 25, Gecoby Hailey, 24, Clayton Cadarius Kersey, 20, Duncan Ojay Borden, 29, Katrina Gould, 38, Jasmine Gatewood, 20, Paul Long, 24, all of Wadesboro, and Harvey Lee Sturdivant, 30, of Peachland were named as defendants in the conspiracy.

They are accused of distributing at least 50 grams of the substance. They face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $4 million if convicted.

"For the past several years, Wadesboro has struggled with the problem of crack cocaine," U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins said Monday in a press conference at the Lockhart-Taylor Center in Wadesboro. "For too long, federal law enforcement did not pay enough attention to this community."

The investigation spanned nine months and involved the FBI, ATF, SBI, the Anson County Sheriff's Office, Wadesboro Police Department, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and the District Attorney's office. It was spurred after Wadesboro Police Chief Janie Schutz contacted the FBI in June of 2009. She described the defendants as "trying to hold the town hostage."

Detention hearings for the 11 are set for May 26 in U.S. District Court in Charlotte.

In a related case, a civil forfeiture proceeding was also filed by the U.S. District Attorney's office in the Western District for a home located at 982 Salisbury St. in Wadesboro.

The court documents allege the home has been used since 2002 by numerous persons as a meeting place for buying, selling and distributing drugs, including crack cocaine and marijuana. Tompkins said Monday that the owner, T. Willie Bennett, had not been criminally charged.

The documents say Schutz spoke to Bennett three times from September 2009 to April 2010 about the activity at the home and "he has not taken reasonable action or contacted or consulted with a law enforcement agency to terminate such activity and, on information and belief, has not taken any other action to revoke or attempt to revoke permission for those engaging in criminal activity to use the property."

In a separate indictment, two men were charged with violating four federal statutes during an armed robbery of the CQ Mart on Salisbury Street in Wadesboro Jan. 11.

Anthony Markee Allen, 19, and Antonius O'Keefe Owens, 20, both of Wadesboro, were charged in the case.

The indictment alleges the two "did knowingly and intentionally combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with each other to knowingly and unlawfully use and carry one or more firearms during and in relation to one or more crimes of violence, that is robbery" and other charges.

Allen was arrested in June of 2009 and charged with murder in the shooting death of James Patrick Pickett on May 3, 2009. The charges were dropped, citing a lack of evidence.

The pair are in state custody on other charges and will be moved into federal custody.

In a third indictment, Robert Lamar Smith, 20, of Morven was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and possessing a firearm that was not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. The gun was a 12-gauge pistol grip shotgun.

According to the statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, Smith, of Morven, has not yet been arrested.