Raid of convenience stores also leads to charges for gambling machines
The first five defendants in a January undercover sweep across Jones County by the Jones County Sheriff’s Office recently entered guilty pleas.
All five were employees of the same convenience store on Eatonton Highway. The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Cara Fiore, who told the court the defendants’ arrests were due to the amount of THC found in the vaping products found at the store.
She said the products seized tested over an ounce of THC. Fiore said the defendants came in wanting to plead guilty, and they were allowed to plead guilty to misdemeanors.
Sherri Lane Griffis, Courtney Lynn Hollis, Donna Bratcher Smith, Jaykumar Brahmbhatt and Cristen Davina Couch entered their pleas in Jones County Superior Court April 4. All five received 12 months’ probation and a fine for the offense of possession of marijuana less than an ounce as the result of plea negotiations with the state.
Superior Court Judge Terry Massey accepted the pleas and agreed if all the rules and conditions of probation were followed, their probation could terminate in six months if recommended by their community supervision officer.
The defendants’ arrests were the result of a six-month undercover investigation by law enforcement officers from the Middle Georgia counties of Putnam, Jasper and Jones that began last summer.
A story about the investigation in The Jones County News stated that warrants were served on 12 local businesses for the sale of illegal drugs, involving CBD products over the legal limit for THC.
Three of the stores also face charges of commercial gambling for paying out cash winnings on gaming machines.
The Jones County stores were part of 34 total businesses that were served with warrants Jan. 10-11 in the three Middle Georgia counties.
The operations were the idea sheriffs Butch Reece, Howard Sills (Putnam) and Donnie Pope (Jasper). Reece said the three sheriffs are close friends and decided working together would make a bigger impact.
JCSO Investigator Crystal Murphy said the catalysts for the operation were complaints from parents and family members and the number of students caught vaping. She said there have been numerous EMS calls in Jones County involving students and CBD gummies.
The investigator said the stores paying out cash prizes are frequent targets for robberies. The gaming machines are legal if the prizes are paid out in store merchandise or lottery tickets.
Murphy said the investigation began with undercover operatives going into the stores and purchasing products suspected of being over the limit for THC. The legal age to buy the products is 21, but she said in some cases, the underage purchaser was carded and the sale went forward anyway.
Operatives checked out the businesses suspected of paying out cash prizes by playing the machines.
The inventory of the purchasing and testing of the products was organized by Murphy and filled two large, three-ring binders.
The investigator said all the suspected over-the-limit products were seized when the warrants were executed as well as all cash on the premises. She said the gaming machines in the businesses involved were shut down by the Lottery Commission.
She said anticipated charges include possession and sale of schedule I drugs, commercial gambling, keeping a gambling place, furnishing cash payments for video machines and sales to minors.
Murphy said 25 JCSO officers participated in the Jan. 11 operation, and 19 of them helped Jasper and Putnam offices the previous day.
Reece said he was very proud of the job of the officers in the investigation and execution of the warrants.
More arrests are anticipated as investigators continue to sort through all the evidence seized.
