A six-month investigation has led to 14 arrests and the seizure of 6 ounces of crack cocaine in Westminster, Carroll County authorities said yesterday.

Law enforcement officials described the investigation as the most significant undercover drug operation in Carroll County in recent years.

Police used a confidential informant to purchase the drugs from street-level and midlevel drug dealers, authorities said. The undercover informant made about 35 purchases, resulting in the seizure of the drugs, about $6,500, a stolen handgun and a 1998 Toyota Camry.

Officers with the Carroll County Drug Task Force -- assisted by Westminster police, the Maryland State Police, the Carroll County Sheriff's Office and the Carroll state's attorney's office -- began arresting suspects on grand jury indictments Thursday afternoon. Authorities charged 13 adults and one juvenile with felony offenses for allegedly distributing crack cocaine.

They are: Blaine Brown, 19, of Westminster; Melissa Carter, 36, of Westminster; Damon Collins, 20, who was in the Carroll County Detention Center on unrelated drug charges; Jermaine Clark, 19, of Westminster; Jamel Clark, 19, of Westminster; Jonathan Gray, 31, who was in the Frederick County Detention Center on unrelated charges; Larry Johnson, 26, of Owings Mills; George Jones, 40, of Westminster; Angela Mathias, 33, of Westminster; Donna Moffit, 45, of New Windsor; Raymond Saunders, 43, of Westminster; Joseph Sheppard Jr., 20, of Westminster; Wendy Worthington, 41, of Westminster; and an unnamed 17-year-old girl from Westminster.

Carroll authorities said the investigation was the most significant undercover operation in the county since 1999.