31 people arrested in drug trafficking bust by Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, FBI and more

COLUMBUS, Ga. ( WRBL ) — The FBI, DEA, Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies have arrested 31 people on gang and drug trafficking charges, Thursday.

The Muscogee County Sheriff’s office says 19 of the people arrested have close ties to the Zohannon and Crips criminal street gangs. The remaining 12 people were arrested on state charges as part of the investigation.

The arrests were part Operation Sweet Silence, an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. It was carried out by federal and local law enforcement from August 2022 through May 2024. The operation involved MCSO partnering with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Russell County Sheriff’s Office of Alabama, Coweta County Sheriff’s Office, US Marshal’s Services, and Georgia State Patrol.

Operation Sweet Silence investigated activities by the Zohannon criminal street gang, which allegedly involved armed drug trafficking.

Federal search and arrest warrants were carried out in Columbus.

Drugs including fentanyl and methamphetamine were recovered, as well as firearms such as a machine gun. Glock switches, which are used to make firearms operate as machine guns, were also seized.

Update: MCSO released a detailed breakdown of what has been recovered in Operation Sweet Silence on Friday morning. The list is below:

• 155 firearms
• $273,433 US currency
• 496lbs of methamphetamine
  ($22,458,880 street value)
• 57.21 kilos of cocaine
  ($5,748,296 street value)
• 7.1 kilos of fentanyl
  ($707,273.60 street value)
• 55,248 pounds of marijuana
  ($250,162,944 street value)
  Includes large amount of illegal marijuana grown in Butte County, Ca.
• 1.3 kilos of heroin
  ($130,859.20 street value)
• 5.9lbs of GHB
  ($267,152 street value)
• 755.8 grams of mushroom
  ($15,116 street value)

According to MCSO, a total of 101 arrests and 126 search warrants have been made in the operation so far.

Federal search and arrest warrants were executed in Columbus on Thursday, Sept. 12, resulting from newly unsealed federal indictments across several different court cases.

Below is a list of those cases:

USA v. Dawson

• Dequindre Dawson, 32, of Columbus – Two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, one count of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, two counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and two counts of possession with intent to distribute marijuana
  If convicted, Dawson faces a maximum sentence 20 years in prison to be followed by at least three years of supervised release and a $1,000,000 fine

USA v. Williams

• Jhy’Keith Williams aka “Keith Keith,” 23, of Columbus – One count of illegal possession of a machine gun. If convicted, Williams faces a maximum sentence of ten years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

USA v Mullins

• Tommie Mullins, Jr. aka “TJ” aka “Bo” aka “Mini,” 30, of Columbus – One count of conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute and one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamineIf convicted, Mullins faces a maximum of life imprisonment
• Anthony Champion, 45, of Columbus, is charged with one count of conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute. If convicted, Champion faces a maximum of life imprisonment;
• Trenton Clemons, 47, of Columbus, is charged with one count of conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute and one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. If convicted, Clemons faces a maximum of life imprisonment;
• Christopher Hill, 35, of Columbus, is charged with one count of conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute. If convicted, Hill faces a maximum of life imprisonment;
• Darius Jenkins, 23, of Columbus, is charged with one count of conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute. If convicted, Jenkins faces a maximum of life imprisonment;
• Javonta Paden, 24, of Columbus, is charged with one count of conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute. If convicted, Paden faces a maximum of life imprisonment;
• Adrian Palmer aka AP, 24, of Columbus, is charged with one count of conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. If convicted, Palmer faces a maximum of life imprisonment;
• Adrian Pleasants, 28, of Columbus, is charged with one count of conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute. If convicted, Pleasants faces a maximum of life imprisonment;
• Trenton Thomas aka “Bubble,” 24, of Columbus, is charged with one count of conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute and two counts of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. If convicted, Thomas faces a maximum of life imprisonment; and
• Corey Turner aka “Lito” aka “Lito Red,” 32, of Columbus, is charged with one count of conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute, one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. If convicted, Turner faces a maximum of life imprisonment.

USA v. Carter

• Jantzen Carter, 39, of Waverly Hall, Georgia, is charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. If convicted, Carter faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

USA v. Brown

• Fernando Brown aka “Nino,” 31, of Columbus, is charged with one count of conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute, two counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, two counts of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. If convicted, Brown faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment;
• Undrae Hayes aka “Skizite,” 36, of Columbus, is charged with one count of conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute and one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. If convicted, Hayes faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment;
• Jeffrey Kimbrough aka “YSN Trap,” 28, of Columbus, is charged with one count of conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute. If convicted, Kimbrough faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment;
• Hykeem Lomax aka “Peso,” 32, of Columbus, is charged with one count of conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. If convicted, Lomax faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment;

According to the United States Attorney’s Office Middle District of Georgia, all of these defendants are in custody and initial appearances are expected to occur before U.S. Magistrate
Judge Charles Weigle on Sept. 12 and Sept. 13.

MCSO says a news conference will be held Sept. 13 at 10 a.m. 1000 5th Ave at the new Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office Headquarters.

The news conference will go into additional detail about the operations, according to MCSO.

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