GREENFIELD — Two more people connected with an alleged cocaine trafficking ring operating out of a Greenfield barbershop pleaded not guilty in Franklin County Superior Court on Monday after their cases were transferred from Greenfield District Court due to their severity.

Damek Ryan, 34 of Montague, faces a charge of conspiracy to violate drug laws, as does Wayne Rockwood, 43, of Greenfield, who also faces one count of trafficking cocaine over 18 grams.

Ryan was released on personal recognizance. Rockwood had been released on $3,500 cash bail and Chief Trial Counsel Jeremy Bucci, who is prosecuting the defendants in the  case, asked that this bail be transferred from Greenfield District Court. Judge Francis Flannery agreed to this.

The two defendants are scheduled for pretrial hearings in June.

The arrests came in December following a seven-month investigation by more than a dozen law enforcement organizations. According to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, police broke up an alleged cocaine trafficking ring that investigators believe distributed between 100 and 200 grams of cocaine a day throughout Franklin and Hampshire counties and the North Quabbin region.

According to the DA’s office, brothers Daniel G. Rice, 38, of Hatfield, and Brandon M. Rice, 35, of West Springfield, were the alleged leaders of the trafficking operation that centered around Dapper Dan’s Barbershop, which Daniel Rice owned on Chapman Street in Greenfield. The barbershop is now closed.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.

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