SUPERIOR COURT
A defendant arrested in 2020 on multiple charges that included drugs and firearms was sentenced to 30 years in confinement following the entry of two guilty pleas in Jones County Superior Court.
Dustin James Parham entered the pleas May 25. He received five years for possession of marijuana, more than an ounce, and three years for possession of methamphetamine in one case, for a total of eight years. The sentence in that case will run at the same time as the 30-year sentence he received for the trafficking of methamphetamine.
The defendant will receive credit for the time he served in custody from his Dec. 4, 2020, arrest.
Parham fled Jones County deputies in a chase that ended in Bibb County, during which the suspect fired shots at the officers.
He was indicted by a Jones County Grand Jury Feb. 1, 2021, on multiple charges that included traffic violations, possession of drugs with the intent to distribute and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
After the drug report was received from the crime lab, Parham was reindicted Dec. 14, 2021, and charged with trafficking. Assistant District Attorney Cara Fiore said the report showed Parham was in possession of more than the 28 grams of methamphetamine required for the trafficking charge at the time of his arrest.
In a story of Parham’s Dec. 5, 2020, arrest, Jones County Sheriff Reece thanked the two officers involved in the suspect’s arrest and expressed his thankfulness that they were able to go home after their shift after being shot at by Parham.
Chief Deputy Earl Humphries described his car as a rolling pharmacy after the search of the vehicle was completed.
Humphries said the encounter with the suspect started at 3:30 a.m. Dec. 5, 2020, when Sgt. Travis Walker was patrolling the Jones County portion of Shurling Drive and noticed Parham’s vehicle swerving. He said the officer attempted a traffic stop and the car stopped at the entrance of Bowden Golf Course.
The chief said Parham began acting aggressively when a second officer arrived. He said the officers noticed a knife and a gun in the car. Before they could get him out of the car, Parham took off and busted through the gate at the golf course.
Humphries said the suspect immediately turned around and came back out of the golf course, firing at the officers from inside of his car. He said one of the bullets struck Walker’s windshield.
The chief said the officers heard three shots.
The pursuit headed down Shurling, and Parham pulled into a neighborhood, where he hid behind a house. At that point the officers lost sight of him.
Humphries said ambulance attendants who were at a nearby house noticed Parham entering a home and alerted the Jones County officers. He said the deputies secured the area and waited for Macon-Bibb officers to arrive.
The chief said the homeowner gave permission for officers to search the house, and Parham was found hiding under a table. He was taken into custody, and his vehicle was recovered from the back yard of the home.
Parham was out on bond for a trafficking charge in Bibb County when he was arrested in Jones County. He was facing a total of five different cases.
Fiore said the charges for the shots at Jones County officers were being handled in Bibb County, which is where the shooting took place.
