ROME, Ga. — Federal authorities say a former Georgia Department of Corrections officer has been arrested on new charges after previously being convicted of smuggling contraband into prison.
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Mark Edward Jeffery, 41, of Calhoun, appeared in federal court Tuesday after his arrest on new drug trafficking and firearms charges.
According to federal authorities, Jeffery was caught by Gordon County deputy sleeping in a vehicle on Feb. 11, 2025.
The deputy searched Jeffery and the vehicle he was sleeping in, finding pills, several bags of methamphetamine, a baggie of heroin, two loaded guns, a digital scale for weighing drugs and multiple empty bags.
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A federal grand jury indicted Jeffery on Sept. 8, charging him with possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Jeffery previously served five years in prison after pleading guilty in 2019 to smuggling cellular telephones, chargers and methamphetamine into Hays State Prison in Trion.
“A convicted drug trafficker, Jeffery was allegedly undeterred from dealing methamphetamine, despite having served a five-year prison sentence. Now he faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg.
“This defendant allegedly picked up right where he left off when he was released from prison, believing that he could profit by peddling drugs,” said Mitchell Jackson, Supervisory Senior Resident Agent for FBI Atlanta’s Cartersville office. “The FBI works every day to hold individuals accountable for poisoning communities with dangerous drugs.”
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