27 people arrested in narcotics operation in Prince William County

MANASSAS, Va. - Police have arrested 27 people and are searching for one more suspect as the result of a lengthy investigation into the distribution of illicit Xanax pills in Prince William County, police announced Monday.

The arrests are the result of a joint investigation involving detectives from the Prince William-Manassas City-Manassas Park Narcotics Task Force, the FBI and the Haymarket Police Department that began in October of 2015, according to a press release from Prince William County Police.

The investigation grew out of a previous investigation and information obtained in the Operation Growing Pains investigation in summer 2015, police said.

"During the investigation, it was discovered that multiple suspects in Prince William County were involved in ordering illicit, and often counterfeit, Xanax from the "Dark Web," a known online black market for websites involved in criminal activity," said Sergeant Jonathan L. Perok in a press release on Monday.

A Prince William County psychiatrist is among the dozens charged. Craig Charles Krause whose office is in Gainesville was distributing the medication. Beginning in February, police said, detectives repeatedly contacted Krause "to advise him that the medication prescribed was being abused and distributed by the individual," police said in the news release. Police say the doctor refused to cease the prescribing of the medication. They later learned he was allegedly prescribing to several other suspects in the operation.

"He was selling to one of our suspects. We advised him. We approached him about what was going on in the hopes that it would cease the activity, but it did not. We learned that he had sold to other suspects and other operations that we'd that we'd had in the past," said Sgt. Jonathan Perok with Prince William police.

Investigators executed search warrants Aug. 9 at Krause's office at Lake Manassas Medical Psychiatry, 7544 Gardner Park Drive in Gainesville, and at his office at Fairfax Mental Health, 5675 Stone Road, Suite 320 in Centreville, police said. Krause was arrested, and when searched, was found to be in possession of suspected Hydrocodone and a firearm, police said

Dr. Krause was apparently back to work on Monday after he was released on bond. Some of his patients that FOX 5 talked to say they were shocked by these allegations, but needed to see him anyway because they had prescriptions that had to be filled.