ALBANY, GA (WALB) - Twenty people, nine from Tift County, one from Leesburg, and one from Bosnia, have been sentenced in Albany Federal Court, for a wide-ranging drug conspiracy, that was run inside various Georgia prisons.
US Attorney Pete Peterman said Tuesday that inmates in the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections, including Antron Miles, Anthony Moore, and Rejhan Mujanovic, engaged in a conspiracy with people on the outside, to acquire and distribute methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, and marijuana.
They were able to run their scheme with cell phones that had been smuggled into prisons.
Antron Miles’ nephew, Dorian Holt, regularly met with the suppliers and transported the bulk quantity narcotics from the Atlanta area to the Tifton area. Drugs were also shipped via United States Mail to Enigma, where Loretta Hillman Hunt was the Relief Post Master. Hunt diverted the packages from the normal flow of mail and give them to Tonya Harp or Dexter Davis for distribution.
The drugs were warehoused in Tifton, and distributed by Leslie Howard, Tonya Harp, and Sarah Frost Taylor. They had help from Jimmy Taylor, Tony Carrithers, and Dexter Davis.
Anthony Moore routed customers such as Curtis Wood, Tiffany Leverette, Jacob Herrin and Jamie Crews from the Ware, Coffee, and Brantley County areas through Miles to arrange meetings with Miles’ co-conspirators in Tifton.
Jimmy Barrentine assisted in transporting the controlled substances to Wood on some occasions.
Miles’ wife, Gaye, took control of the money, and helped get materials for processing the methamphetamine. Agents also seized in excess of $30,000 in cash.
Others, including Austin Brown, Adam Arnold, and Jimmy Waldrop, were repeat customers who helped sell the drugs in Georgia and West Virginia.
"This prosecution is the result of an ongoing and unrelenting investigation by the federal, state and local agencies listed below as well as the dedicated prosecution team in the Albany Branch of this office," said United States Attorney Peterman. "This effort has dismantled a major drug distribution network in Southwestern Georgia, an operation that had continued even from prison. It is an outstanding example of what a dedicated team of law enforcement professionals can accomplish when working together across jurisdictional lines."
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration Macon Division; GBI Sylvester, Ben Hill County Sheriff’s Office, Tift County Sheriff’s Office, and Mid South Narcotics Task Force.
Assistant United States Attorney Leah E. McEwen prosecuted the case for the Government.
Here is the list of people who were convicted in the conspiracy-
1) Curtis Wood, age 55, of Waycross, Georgia, was sentenced on March 16, 2017, to 120 months imprisonment;
2) Tiffany Leverette, age 33, of Nahunta, Georgia was sentenced on February 1, 2017, to 36 months imprisonment;
3) Austin Brown, age 43, of Rebecca, Georgia, was sentenced on March 16, 2017, to 120 months imprisonment;
4) Jamie Crews, age 42, of Okeechobee, Florida, was sentenced on December 14, 2016, to 200 months imprisonment;
5) Jacob Herrin, age 23, of Hoboken, Georgia, was sentenced February 1, 2017, to 48 months imprisonment;
6) Loretta Hunt, age 47, of Tifton, Georgia, was sentenced on August 29, 2017, to five years of probation for conspiracy to distribute marijuana;
7) Adam Arnold, age 40, of Charleston, West Virginia, was sentenced on August 29, 2017, to 80 months imprisonment;
8) Jimmy Waldrop, age 45, of Leesburg, Georgia, was sentenced on August 29, 2017, to 96 months imprisonment for illegal use of a communication facility to facilitate drug trafficking;
9) Tony Carrithers, age 47, of Tifton, Georgia, was sentenced on August 29, 2017, to 72 months imprisonment;
10) Jimmy Barrentine, age 55, of Tifton, Georgia, was sentenced on August 29, 2017, to 60 months imprisonment;
11) Jimmy Taylor, age 42, of Tifton, Georgia, was sentenced on August 29, 2017, to 180 months imprisonment;
12) Gaye Miles, age 46, of Tifton, Georgia, was sentenced on August 30, 2017, to 36 months imprisonment;
13) Tonya Harp, age 38, of Tifton, Georgia, was sentenced on August 30, 2017, to 60 months imprisonment;
14) Sarah Taylor, age 41, of Tifton, Georgia, was sentenced on August 30, 2017, to 18 months imprisonment;
15) Dexter Davis, age 53, of Enigma, Georgia, was sentenced on August 30, 2017, to 144 months imprisonment;
16) Dorian Holt, age 40, of Fairburn, Georgia, was sentenced on August 30, 2017, to 135 months imprisonment;
17) Leslie Howard, age 47, of Chula, Georgia was sentenced on August 30, 2017, to 120 months imprisonment;
18) Anthony Moore, age 30, of Hoboken, Georgia, was sentenced on August 30, 2017, to 210 months imprisonment;
19) Antron Miles, age 48, of Tifton, Georgia, was sentenced on October 10, 2017, to 360 months imprisonment (to begin in 2020 and run consecutive to his Tift county sentence);
20) Rehjan Mujanovic, age 27, a citizen of Bosnia, residing in Gwinnett County, was sentenced on August 30, 2017, to 240 months imprisonment, with sentencing on separate charges in the State of Georgia to take place subsequently.
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