MAYVILLE — In the summer of 2014, a sweeping, multi-agency drug investigation known as “Operation Horseback” led to charges against 47 individuals accused of funneling heroin from Philadelphia and New York City into Jamestown.

The year-long investigation, led by the New York State Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force, the New York State Police CNET and the Jamestown Police Department, seemed in many ways a turning point for the city in its fight against narcotics.

But three years later, the once-lauded operation seems a distant memory, as arrest reports show heroin more prevalent than ever and “Horseback” defendants already back on the streets.

On Thursday, one such individual, 34-year-old Carlos Echevarria, appeared in Chautauqua County Court for sentencing.

Echevarria, a Jamestown resident who already completed a year of interim probation on two felonies associated with “Horseback” — criminal possession of a weapon and attempted sale of a controlled substance — was sentenced to three years of felony probation.

Andrew Brautigam, a Fredonia-based attorney representing Echevarria, told The Post-Journal his client was originally charged with up to 20 charges on drug possessions and sales. In the end, Echevarria only pleaded guilty to attempted sale of a controlled substance (a class C felony), while the weapons charge was dropped.

The investigation, according to Brautigam, did not find any weapon in Echevarria’s personal possession.

“All of (my client’s) charges were based on the alleged observations of this big inter-agency drug task force that monitored phone calls and (relied) partially on statements co-defendants made … it was a big tangled mess,” Brautigam said. “It’s my understanding that people were charged on a very limited set of facts here.”

Brautigam said this is primarily why several “Horseback” defendants were given probation as opposed to significant jail time.

“There were a few defendants that were found with drugs, guns and contraband … but (overall) it was a wide-reaching, but low-level drug conspiracy,” he said.

This hasn’t stopped “Horseback” defendants from re-offending, however.

Earlier this month, Roberto F. Figueredo, a 28-year-old Jamestown resident was taken into custody on two separate arrest warrants for assault and conspiracy.

In June 2015, Moises Lopez Encarnacion, 25, was found with 237 bags of heroin at a 220 McKinley Ave. apartment. Police took Encarnacion into custody and seized a loaded .38 caliber pistol, scales, drug packaging materials and nearly $1,000 cash from inside the apartment. He was handed a determinate sentence of three years in state prison plus two years of post-release supervision the following year.

For law enforcement, seeing “Horseback” defendants returning to the streets after multiple undercover operations, wiretaps and hundreds of hours of covert surveillance is a sobering reality of the criminal justice system.

“It’s frustrating,” said Harry Snellings, Jamestown chief of police. “But we’re seeing it … we’re dealing with the same people over and over again.”

The prosecution of the “Horseback” defendants was handled by the State Attorney General’s Office. Calls placed to them were not returned to The Post-Journal for comment.

“One of the aims of our criminal justice system is rehabilitation and the restoration of people so they can lead law-abiding lives,” Brautigam said. “Probation can ask (defendants) to report at any time and (defendants) can be searched at anytime if their probation officer believes they’re using drugs. So rehabilitation is a major factor in the sentences that many of the defendants in this matter received.”