NEW ORLEANS – Two area men were indicted for running a meth distribution operation that handled hundreds of grams of the illegal narcotic, authorities said.

U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans said a federal grand jury indicted Thorne Brown, 30, of Gramercy, and Edwin Watson, 36, of LaPlace, on Jan. 26 for distributing and conspiring to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine and more than 500 grams of a mixture containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine.

If convicted, the defendants face terms of up to life in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan L. Shih and Nicholas D. Moses are in charge of the prosecution for a case being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration. The indictment alleges the illegal acts began sometime prior to Oct. 9 and continued through Jan. 25.

Court documents allege Brown goes by the street name “Gucci” and Brown is known and “Pete.”