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OFFICE: (912) 537-9203
FAX: (912) 537-4477
WVOP: (912) 537-9202
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Nearly 50 people have been indited in a drug trafficking investigation that targeted violent gang members distributing methamphetamine and other drugs in Coffee, Bacon, Emanuel, Jeff Davis, Pierce and Wheeler counties, along with other parts of Georgia.

Dubbed “Operation Sandy Bottom,” the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force centered in the Sand Ridge neighborhood on the east side of Douglas known as “The Bottoms.” Bobby Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, said the 57-count indictment alleges that the conspiracy, controlled by the subset of the violent Gangster Disciples street gang, used guns, violence, and fear to control methamphetamine trafficking operations inside Georgia prison.

While most of those indicted resided in the Douglas area, there were some area  residents including a Correctional Officer and an inmate at the Wheeler State Prison in Alamo.  Ebony Desiree Smiley, aka “Baby Girl,” 24 of Vidalia, and Nathan Fabron Irvin, 24, an inmate at Wheeler State Prison, are among those named in the indictment.

Other area residents include Richard Young, 54, of Hazlehurst; Ricardo Leon, aka “Migo,” aka “Rickey,” 29, of Swainsboro; and Naiyah Nicole Williams, 30, of Hazlehurst.

Idalis Qua Dazia Harrell, a Correctional Officer at Coffee County Correctional Facility, and Jessica Azaelae Burnett, aka “The Madam,” a Senior Correctional Officer at Coffee County Correctional Facility have also been charged with various related crimes.

The operation identified three Georgia State Prisons where Georgia State Correctional Officers are believed to have worked with gang members to smuggle contraband cell phones and illegal drugs to inmates affiliated with the conspiracy, and in some cases, contraband phones were used from inside prisons to facilitate drug trafficking operations according to Christine.

The investigation began in 2018 when the Coffee County Drug Unit, responding to complaints about the increasing level of violence and drug activity in the Sand Ridge neighborhood, and included the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Coastal Georgia Violent Gang Task Force, the Atlanta Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Georgia Department of Corrections, and other collaborating agencies.

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