A Candler County man was recently sentenced to 36 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, crack cocaine, Hydrocodone and marijuana and that arrest had ties to the Lyons area.

According to the United States Department of Justice, Matthew Scott Fondren of Metter was the last defendant sentenced in Operation Sand Trap, a two-year drug trafficking investigation wherein large qualities of drugs were brought through Emanuel, Candler, and Treutlen counties and into the Lyons area for wider distribution. Agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and officers with the Lyons Police Department conducted surveillance and covert operation to identify those involved and seized large amounts of drugs and at least a dozen firearms during the investigation.