Federal sentences imposed in Southwest Georgia drug ring

ALBANY — U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia G. F. “Pete” Peterman III announced on Tuesday that sentences have been imposed on 19 defendants resulting from the dismantling of a Tift County-based drug ring distributing methamphetamine and other drugs that was operating from within the prisons of the Georgia Department of Corrections.

Peterman said the sentences, all of which have been imposed since late last year by U.S. District Judge Leslie J. Abrams in Albany, resulted from guilty pleas by each defendant primarily for charges relating to distribution and/or conspiracy to distribute meth in violation of federal law. The defendants are:

— Curtis Wood, 55, of Waycross, sentenced on March 16 to 120 months imprisonment;

— Tiffany Leverette, 33, of Nahunta, sentenced on Feb. 1 to 36 months imprisonment;

— Austin Brown, 43, of Rebecca, sentenced on March 16 to 120 months imprisonment;

— Jamie Crews, 42, of Okeechobee, Fla., sentenced on Dec. 14, 2016 to 200 months imprisonment;

— Jacob Herrin, 23, of Hoboken, sentenced on Feb. 1 to 48 months imprisonment;

— Loretta Hunt, 47, of Tifton, sentenced on Aug. 29 to five years of probation for conspiracy to distribute marijuana;

— Adam Arnold, 40, of Charleston, W.V., sentenced on Aug. 29 to 80 months imprisonment;

— Jimmy Waldrop, 45, of Leesburg, sentenced on Aug. 29 to 96 months imprisonment for illegal use of a communication facility to facilitate drug trafficking;

— Tony Carrithers, 47, of Tifton, sentenced on Aug. 29 to 72 months imprisonment;

— Jimmy Barrentine, 55, of Tifton, sentenced on Aug. 29 to 60 months imprisonment;

— Jimmy Taylor, 42, of Tifton, sentenced on Aug. 29 to 180 months imprisonment;

— Gaye Miles, 46, of Tifton, sentenced on Aug. 30 to 36 months imprisonment;

— Tonya Harp, 38, of Tifton, sentenced on Aug. 30 to 60 months imprisonment;

— Sarah Taylor, 41, of Tifton, sentenced on Aug. 30 to 18 months imprisonment;

— Dexter Davis, 53, of Enigma, sentenced on Aug. 30 to 144 months imprisonment;

— Dorian Holt, 40, of Fairburn, sentenced on Aug. 30 to 135 months imprisonment;

— Leslie Howard, 47, of Chula, sentenced on Aug. 30 to 120 months imprisonment;

— Anthony Moore, 30, of Hoboken, sentenced on Aug. 30 to 210 months imprisonment;

— Antron Miles, 48, of Tifton, sentenced on Oct. 10 to 360 months imprisonment to begin in 2020 and run consecutive to his Tift County sentence;

— Rehjan Mujanovic, 27, a citizen of Bosnia residing in Gwinnett County, sentenced on Aug. 30 to 240 months imprisonment with sentencing on separate charges in the state of Georgia to take place subsequently.

Co-defendant Bobby Grantham is awaiting sentencing.

Officials said investigative efforts in the case revealed that several inmates in the custody of the Department of Corrections, including Antron Miles, Moore and Mujanovic, had engaged in a conspiracy with one another and with other people who were not inmates to acquire and distribute a variety of controlled substances such as meth, heroin, cocaine and marijuana. Antron Miles, Moore and Mujanovic were able to engage in criminal activity due to cellphones that had been smuggled into Department of Corrections facilities.

Based on an order authorizing a wiretap on a phone used by Antron Miles, agents learned there was obtainment of controlled substances, primarily meth, but also marijuana, cocaine/cocaine base and heroin, from persons associated with Mujanovic. Holt regularly met with the suppliers and transported the bulk quantity narcotics from the Atlanta area to the Tifton area, federal court officials said.

Officials said in some instances the controlled substances were shipped via U.S. Mail to Enigma, where Hunt was the relief postmaster. Hunt would divert the packages from the normal flow of mail and provide them to either Harp or Davis for distribution. In Tifton, the drugs were warehoused and distributed by Howard, Harp and Sarah Taylor, assisted by Jimmy Taylor, Carrithers and Davis.

Moore routed customers such as Wood, Leverette, Herrin and Crews from the Ware, Coffee and Brantley county areas. Barrentine assisted in transporting the controlled substances to Wood on some occasions, officials said.

Gaye Miles took control of the proceeds of the sales and assisted in acquiring supplies necessary for processing the meth. Other listed defendants, including Brown, Arnold and Waldrop, were repeat customers who acquired regular multi-ounce quantities of methamphetamine and heroin for resale in Georgia and West Virginia, officials said.

Officials said agents monitored the wiretap from May 22-June 8, 2015. Before, during and after the conclusion of the wiretap, agents engaged in controlled purchases of controlled substances. They conducted surveillance and traffic stops based on the information obtained through the wiretap and executed search warrants at many of the Tifton-area storage locations.

Agents eventually seized multiple kilograms of high-purity meth, hundreds of grams of heroin and marijuana, along with small amounts of cocaine and prescription pills such as Oxycodone and Xanax. Agents also seized in excess of $30,000 in U.S. currency, court officials said.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Macon Division, Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Sylvester office, Ben Hill County Sheriff’s Office, Tift County Sheriff’s Office and Mid-South Narcotics Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah E. McEwen prosecuted the case.