Four arrested attempting to smuggle illegal items into Baldwin State Prison
Jul. 7—Three men and a woman were recently arrested on criminal charges for trying to smuggle illegal contraband into Baldwin State Prison near Milledgeville.
Authorities contend that the four worked up a scheme to cut open five footballs and fill them cellphones, cigarettes, several bags of tobacco, loose tobacco, cigarette lighters and rolling papers. Someone was supposed to toss the taped footballs across barbed-wire fencing surrounding the prison where they were to be retrieved by inmates.
It's not the first time that such a scheme to pass on prohibited contraband to inmates inside the correctional facility located on Laying Farm Road has been cooked up.
The latest such incident unfolded June 30.
Officers with the Milledgeville Police Department, along with deputies with the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office and K-9 officers with the Georgia Department of Corrections were called to the area of the prison regarding a suspicious vehicle, according to an incident report filed by Baldwin County Sheriff's Office Deputy Lt. Jerome Roberts.
When Roberts arrived, he said he began searching for the vehicle. He came upon a 2016 Toyota Camry without any lights on parked in the cul-de-sac on Lilac Court. The car was facing a solar panel field.
"As I got closer to the vehicle, the lights turned on and the passenger door opened up," Roberts said in his report. "Due to this being a location where many attempts (have been made) to throw contraband over the perimeter fence at the local prison, I made contact with the occupants of the vehicle."
The deputy said while talking with them, he smelled the odor of marijuana coming from inside the car.
Roberts said the occupants indicated they were lost and they were waiting on the GPS to load in order to correctly navigate them.
The deputy said he noticed several footballs on the rear floorboard of the car. Each one appeared to be wrapped with tape.
"This is consistent with previous experience I had with someone attempting to make a contraband drop at the prison," Roberts said.
He said while he waited for back up, he relayed information about the occupants to a 911 dispatcher.
As soon as another deputy arrived, Roberts said he asked all four occupants to step out of the car and he and the other deputy detained them in handcuffs.
Roberts said he told the driver of the car that he was going to conduct a probable cause search of the car because he smelled marijuana.
During the search, he discovered five footballs. All of them had been cut open and apparently filled with unknown contents and taped up.
"I removed a purse from the rear passenger seat, where Precious Carter was sitting," Roberts said. "Inside that purse, I located a Burger King receipt, folded up. Once I unfolded the receipt, I located a green leafy substance inside I suspected of being marijuana."
The deputy said Carter later told him that she had gotten the marijuana from a friend at work.
"She stated she put it in her purse and forgot to give it back to her (friend)," Roberts said.
The deputy said in his report that he cut open the footballs to see what sort of contraband had been placed inside them.
The Georgia Department of Corrections was notified. Special Agent Timothy Konzelman requested that all four occupants of the car be taken to the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office for questioning.
Aside from Carter, whose address was not provided, the other three occupants were identified as Camil Ahmad Reese of Thomaston; Zachary Dwayne Harris of Gray; and Damarcus Louis Phillips of Union Point.
All three men were charged with felony violations of providing inmates prohibited items without authorization.
Carter was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana and a felony count of crossing guard lines with drugs.
