Eight people from four counties remain in custody on drug charges after their arrests last week in a Dawson County drug bust.

The operation unfolded at a couple different locations, including a storage facility off Ga. 400, where a Dawsonville couple was arrested Thursday morning.

Kenneth Edward Evans, 44, and Stacey Linkenhoker, 39, each face felony drug trafficking and intent to distribute methamphetamine and marijuana, said Dawson County Sheriff’s Maj. John Cagle.

Cagle, who heads the department’s criminal investigations division, would not elaborate on the quantity of suspected drugs found at the site. More charges are possible, he said.

Linkenhoker and Evans were taken into custody hours after the arrests of five people outside a Dawson County supermarket.

Those arrested included:

• Jessie Wayne Boling, 34, of Dawsonville, possession of a controlled substance.

• Leslie Wayne Grizzle, 28, of Gainesville, possession of a controlled substance.

• April Dawn Guest, 19, of Forsyth County, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

• Hubert Jeffrey Smith, 42, of Oakwood, possession/delivery of controlled substance with intent to distribute.

• Jesse Lee Wilson, 24, of Cumming, conspiracy to commit a crime.

A sixth person, 41-year-old Susan Renea Rice of Dahlonega, was arrested Friday in Lumpkin County after she reportedly fled from drug investigators near the supermarket, authorities said.

She has been charged with obstruction, use of communication facility in committing a drug transaction and possession/delivery of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

All eight suspects remain in the Dawson County Detention Center, where jail records show they are being held without bond. 

Cagle said an investigation into those arrested March 4 led authorities to the storage facility off Ga. 400.

Evans and Linkenhoker were living in the facility’s small office and selling the suspected drugs on the property, Cagle said.

He said investigators are trying to determine who owns the facility, where they also found several firearms and an undisclosed amount of money.

Cagle credited the work of investigators on the case, which “had the outcome we’d hoped for.”

E-mail Michele Hester at michele@dawsonnews.com.