The top target in a 2021 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations case headed by the Jones County Sheriff’s Department entered his guilty plea last week and is on his way to spend a couple of decades in prison.
Hanad Sayid Abdulrahman was in Jones County Superior Court March 14 and pled guilty to the offense of Violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. He received a sentence of 20 years to serve with credit for time served in custody from his May 20, 2021, arrest. The sentence also stated the defendant shall forfeit any and all items seized.
Abdulrahman was represented in the proceeding by defense attorney Hoganne Harrison-Walton, and the case was prosecuted by John Ragan with the Georgia Prosecuting Attorneys Council. Superior Court Judge Terry Massey accepted the plea.
Abdulrahman was the missing piece in the announcement of the RICO case at an April 7, 2021, press conference announcing Jones County Grand Jury indictments of 102 individuals, each with three counts of the Violation of Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Abdulrahman was arrested by a combination of Jones County deputies and members of the Southeast Regional U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task force May 20, 2021, in Atlanta.
In an interview the day after Abdulrahman’s arrest, Jones County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Barron Hall explained the significance of the arrest. He said they had finally caught the ringleader and “cut the head off the snake.”
Hall said investigators received information about the location of Abdulrahman and converged on him while he was standing on a corner in the Buckhead area near Cheshire Bridge Road.
Jones County officers involved in the arrest, in addition to Hall, were Deputies Kasey Carr, John Kile and Lt. Wesley Ransom.
Hall said Abdulrahman was taken into custody after a short scuffle. The investigator said officers were in the area both on foot and in vehicles, and after the target was identified, he was quickly surrounded. A search of the suspect revealed a pistol as well as a container of unlabeled prescription meds.
Abdulrahman was transported to Jones County, where he was charged with three counts of RICO that in his case included 80 predicate acts. In addition to his Jones County charges, Hall said Abdulrahman faced armed robbery charges in Atlanta for an incident that took place while he was under surveillance in the RICO case.
Abdulrahman was indicted by a Jones County Grand Jury April 6 along with another 102 individuals.
The announcement of the indictments and the RICO case was made in a press conference April 7, 2021, by Sheriff Butch Reece. The sheriff was surrounded at the event by officers from 13 law enforcement agencies that helped Jones County in the investigation of the case.
The investigation was named Operation Lone Ranger in memory of JCSO Capt. Jimmy Black, who died Dec. 25, 2020.
Investigator Crystal Murphy gave an overview of the case at the press conference. She said the investigation was opened into the sale and distribution of heroin and methamphetamine in June of 2019. The case began with Willie Michael Wood, a resident of Jones County, who was identified as a supplier in Jones and surrounding counties. The investigation identified Jerric Dywan Williams, aka ‘Duke,’ and Jason Montoya Renolds, aka ‘G,’ both of Macon as Wood’s drug source. Moving up the chain, Murphy said Abdulrahman in Atlanta was identified as Williams’ supplier.
