Area raids lead to arrests, large amounts of cash

Jan. 15—EATONTON, Ga. — Several suspects were arrested this week as part of an undercover operation that turned up drugs, cash and illegal gambling.

The case culminates an undercover operation that started last June in Putnam, Jones and Jasper counties.

"This has been a true joint investigation using undercover personnel from all of the sheriffs' offices in these three counties," Putnam County Sheriff Howard R. Sills said Friday morning. "On and off since June, we have been purchasing THC products, primarily vaping products and engaging in gambling in what our state calls coin amusement machines, which I call gambling machines."

Sills said he and Jasper County Sheriff Donnie Pope and Jones County Sheriff Butch Reece had talked about the need to arrest those involved in such criminal activities.

"We're showing these people that these kinds of crimes aren't going to be tolerated in these counties," Sills said.

Law enforcement authorities said 50 or more suspects had either been taken into custody or would be arrested soon. At least three suspects wanted on arrest warrants in Putnam County surrendered at the Putnam County Jail on Friday morning.

The convenience store or vape shop owners and some clerks who worked at the businesses were taken into custody during raids this week by local, state and federal authorities. The raids began Wednesday morning in Putnam and Jasper counties and continued into Thursday and Friday.

The raids were jointly conducted by deputies from Putnam, Jones, Jasper and Morgan counties, as well as officers with the Eatonton Police Department, Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), U.S. Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Georgia Lottery Commission Coin Operated Amusement Machines (COAM).

Sills said, due to manpower shortages, there would have been no way that the Putnam County Sheriff's Office and Eatonton Police Department could have pulled this off without the help of the Jones County Sheriff's Office, Jasper County Sheriff's Office, and state law enforcement partners.

"We all pooled our resources together to make this happen," Sills said.

"We tried to hit as many businesses as we could simultaneously to prevent tips being made that we were conducing these kinds of raids."

Of the seven businesses raided in the Monticello-Jasper County area, four were closed Wednesday morning.

"We have reason to believe that the owners or someone working in those stores or vape shops were called and tipped off that we were coming and thus they were able to vacate those premises before we arrived looking for evidence against them," Sills said.

He said the raids yielded an undisclosed amount of cash, along with THC levels of more than .3% being sold at some of the businesses, potentially getting into the hands of high school students within the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit.

"Most of the THC levels were around 15 and 16%," Sills said. "They were much higher than the law allows."

In those cases, the suspects were charged with Violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act (VGCSA) for possession of a Scheduled I controlled substance or VGCSA for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

Some of the suspects who were arrested were jailed. Some were expected to be released on bond within two or three days or less. For those considered foreign nationals only cash bonds were going to be accepted.

The majority of the cash seized by authorities at several of the businesses was believed to be money set aside to pay out to winners who played lottery games on amusement machines.

The Georgia Lottery Commission issues licenses to businesses for the playing of coin-operated amusement machines.

It is illegal in Georgia for businesses to pay out cash to winners playing games on the amusement machines.

"That's when the violation occurs because it is illegal to pay out winners with cash," Sills said. "When you do that, it's commercial gambling."

Authorities were joined by Andrew Pippin, COAM compliance manager with the Georgia Lottery Commission.

Several coin-operated amusement machines were shut down inside businesses where it was suspected that violations were taking place.

The sheriff said one of the last stores raided in Eatonton on Thursday afternoon, located across from the county courthouse, turned up a back room with coin-operated amusement machines.

Thirteen businesses in Putnam County were raided this week, while 12 businesses were raided in Jones County. Seven different businesses were raided in Jasper County.

In Putnam County, the following businesses were among those raided by authorities this week. They included:

* Jai Maa Khodiyar, LLC, doing business as Red's Minit Mart, located at 820 Oak St.

* Step In Food Mart, located at 105 Gray Road

* Express, located 811 Oak St.

* AMS Medical Supply and CBD Lake Country, located at 665-C Old Phoenix Road

* Oconee Tobacco, located at 1027 Greensboro Road

* Kwik Stop #4, located at 406 Pea Ridge Road

* Cloud (Factory, located at 899 Harmony Road

* Shell Food Mart, located at 204 Sumter St.

* Eatonton Travel Center, located at 100 Sara Lee Drive

* Discount Tobacco, located at 124 N. Jefferson St.

* Milledgeville Food Mart, LLC, located at 101 Mays Road

* Smoke Studio, located at 104 W. Marion St.

* Long Shoals Convenience Store, located at 1093-B Sparta Highway

In Jones County, 12 search warrants were executed, according to Maj. Earl Humphries, who heads the criminal investigations division of the Jones County Sheriff's Office.

Those businesses included:

* 49er Mart, located at 2440 Shurling Drive, Macon

* NBM Plaza, located at 3437 Joycliff Road, Macon

* Lake Mart, located at 2810 Gray Highway, Macon

* Gray Bait & Tackle, located at 2676 Gray Highway, Macon

* Handy Andy, located at 148 West Clinton Street, Gray

* Marathon, located at 180 West Clinton Street, Gray

* Gary's Food Mart, located at 158 Georgia Highway 49, Macon

* Liston's Grocery, located at 290 Georgia Highway 49, Macon

* Blue Mark, located at 1210 Eatonton Highway, Haddock

* K & A, located at 1359 Ga. Highway 22, Haddock

* SoulShine Vape & Smoke, located at 511 Settlement Point Road Suite A, Gray

* JC 1 Stop, located at 3356 Joycliff Road, Macon

In Jasper County, the following businesses were raided:

* Saqu, LLC, located at 142 Frobel St., Monticello.

* Hillsboro Mini Mart, located 1750 Highway 11 South, Monticello

* Akash Grocery, located 610 Forysth St., Monticello

* 786 Monticello, LLC, located at 3 Short St., Monticello

* 3 J, Inc., located at 8541 Georgia Highway 142, Monticello

* AAP Monticello, Inc., located in Monticello

* Z & R Bhanani, Inc., located at 210 W. Greene St., Monticello.