Certain Georgia inmates eligible for cut in sentences

More than 700 prison inmates in Georgia will be eligible for reductions in their sentences for crack cocaine. The U.S. Sentencing Commission will make retroactive the recent rollback of such sentences. Over 19-thousand inmates nationwide are included. Numbers from the Commission’s website show about 299 cases of inmates from Georgia’s middle district would be affected--269 from the Southern district, and 142 from the Northern district. Most eligible could get no more than a two-year cut in prison terms. Federal judges get final say.

I-20 "drug pipeline"

Interstate 20 that runs east-west between Augusta and Alabama is becoming a major drug pipeline. Federal authorities say every month they seize cocaine, methamphetamine or marijuana from the corridor. One officer with the Taliaferro County Sheriff’s office says it’s never hard to find someone shipping drugs on the highway. Authorities say many of the drugs are linked to Atlanta.

Police bust $14M of cocaine

$14 million dollars worth of cocaine is off the street in Clayton County. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports police there seized more than 400 pounds of the drug last night. They say it was in a wooden shipping crate at a shipping company en route from Laredo, Texas.

Drug crackdown nets 25 suspected dealers

Drug crackdown nets 25 suspected dealers from Dave Bender and Vimeo.

Law-enforcement authorities say they've yanked 25 suspected drug dealers off the streets, with another 40 arrest warrants still outstanding.

Five undercover law-enforcement teams were led by Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents, who made the buys in recent days. Team members, using over $20,000 in funds seized in previous arrests bought crack and powered cocaine, Ecstasy and marijuana from dealers in the sting, announced Wednesday.

Sgt. Rick Stinson, Special-Agent-in-Charge of the sheriff department's Metro Narcotics Task Force told GPB News the roundup's aim is to get dealers off the streets:

"One of it's goals is to look for the mid and upper level drug dealers. But it's also important that we also target the dealers on the street. Oftentimes, they're the ones responsible for a lot of the street violence that we've been having."

Suspects ranged from 14 to 44-years of age. Many had prior drug arrests, and most are from the vicinity.

Similar operation in the area netted over 100 suspects in the last few months. Click here for previous GPB News coverage of the operation.

Click the green arrow below to hear this report.

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Rochelle woman asks cops to check her cocaine

ROCHELLE, Ga. — A woman was arrested after she called police to help "get her money back" after she was unhappy with the crack cocaine she purchased.

Juanita Marie Jones, 53, called Rochelle Police late Thursday night after she purchased what she thought was a $20 piece of crack cocaine, according to police reports.

She told officers she broke the rock into three pieces and smoked one, only to discover the drugs were "fake."

She took Officer Joel Quinn and Deputy John Shedd of the Wilcox County Sheriff's Office into her kitchen and showed them the drugs, police said.

She was promptly arrested on charges of possession of cocaine.

In a related story, 25 people have been indicted in a statewide pot-growing operation. Click here and here for more.

(Associated Press)

FBI arrests Columbus police officer

A veteran Columbus police patrolman has been arrested on drug and extortion charges. Charges against 47-year-old officer Larry Lightning include conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base, extortion by a public official and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Lightning is a 23-year veteran of the Columbus Police Department.