On the first anniversary of Operation Augusta Ink, state and federal prosecutors praised the undercover operation as an interdepartmental success story.

On Nov. 14, 2007, police agencies announced the arrests of more than 100 people snared by the undercover operation.

For 16 months, undercover officers from the Richmond County Sheriff's Office and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operated the Colur Tyme tattoo parlor on Tobacco Road, posing as tattoo artists and store owners while purchasing hundreds of guns, stolen property and drugs from area gang members.

Of the 62 people prosecuted in federal court, 60 have pleaded guilty, said U.S. Attorney Edmund A. Booth Jr. Of those who have been sentenced in federal court, the average sentence was 74 months, he said Friday.

"I think it's been extremely successful," he said.

Thirty-one others were prosecuted in Richmond County Superior Court, and 12 were handled in Juvenile Court.

District Attorney Ashley Wright said Friday she thought the dual prosecution went well. Having so many people to prosecute at one time wasn't a problem because prosecutors knew about the operation, she said.

Operation Augusta Ink was the second largest storefront weapons seizure in ATF history. Officers confiscated about 400 guns in the operation.

Ms. Wright said the gun seizures probably prevented crimes here and in other states.

"Because the operation went so deep in the day-to-day life of the criminal element, we were about to recognize crime that might have gone unnoticed," she said.

The officers were also able to get some violent people off the street before more people were hurt, she said.

Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or sandy.hodson@augustachronicle.com.