BRUNSWICK, Ga. () — The last of 76 defendants in a south Georgia drug trafficking operation have been sentenced to federal prison, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Friday.

David Young, 44, of Hortense, Ga., was sentenced to 235 months, just under 20 years, in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, methamphetamine, said Tara Lyons, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.

The DOJ said that after the Dec. 2022 indictment, Young was a fugitive for more than a year. He was found in Mexico March 2024 after being identified “extensive Ghost Face Gangsters facial tattoos” the press release said.

Young was also featured on “America’s Most Wanted.”

A co-defendant, Blake Screen, 36, of Brunswick, was sentenced to 100 months, a little over 8 years, in prison just five months after his conviction at trial on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl, and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood also ordered each of the defendants to serve three years of supervised release upon completion of their prison terms. They will not be eligible for parole since there is no parole in the federal system.

Young and Screen were among the 76 defendants indicted in Dec. 2022 in USA v. Alvarez et al., which was tagged as Operation Ghost Busted.

“Altogether as adults, the 76 defendants in Operation Ghost Busted have been convicted of more than 250 felonies – and more egregiously, this investigation linked their drug trafficking operation to multiple deaths from dozens of overdoses,” said Lyons. “Our community is demonstrably safer with these drug distributors off the streets, and we applaud our law enforcement partners for the outstanding investigative work to put these defendants behind bars and bring this case to a successful conclusion.”

Officials said that this is believed to be the largest drug trafficking prosecution in the history of the Southern District of Georgia. Over a dozen agencies were involved in Operation Ghost Busted.