Multiple agencies involved in massive meth ring bust across Georgia

BUTTS COUNTY, Ga. — More than 125 law enforcement agencies executed a major meth ring bust across metro Atlanta Friday.

Channel 2′s Mark Winne went along with the raids this morning, where more than 90 people were arrested.

Authorities said agents seized nearly 10 pounds of methamphetamines with a street value estimated at $225,000, handguns, assault rifles, vehicles, stolen property and more than $40,000 in cash.

The Butts County sheriff’s office began the investigation, but the drug distribution stretched from Gwinnett County to Telfair County, and numerous counties in between, authorities said.

Butts County Sheriff Gary Long said the ring was moving thousands of doses of meth a month.

The called the bust “Operation Crystal Web.”

Many sheriffs, the GBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI, the DEA and two district attorneys all have roles in the case, which is not finished yet.

“We took down prolific drug dealers who were spewing poison into the streets of our communities,” Griffin County District Attorney Marie Broder said.

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Many of those arrested are facing charges of drug trafficking, firearm charges, distribution and many others, though Winne was not told the exact charges that each of the suspects faces

Long said Joshua Harrison was one of the group’s ringleaders. Harrison told Winne he was not involved with meth

“I ain’t go no charges,” Harrison said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. No sir.”

Winne also learned Kimberly Ann Chapman, Jimmy Alan Evans and Drexel Dirk Harris were among those arrested.

Spalding County Sheriff Darrell Dix lauded the success of the operation.

“You always hear about people cutting off the head off of a snake. Well, today we cut the head off a very large snake in Georgia,” Dix said.

“I want to send a very loud message to anyone distributing illegal narcotics anywhere in the state of Georgia. ‘If your poison drugs make it into Butts County, or any other county in Georgia, the law enforcement in this state, including your local sheriff’s, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and my office will utilize every legal resource to identify, arrest and prosecute you,’” said Butts County Sheriff Gary Long.

Cox Media Group