Federal indictments released on Wednesday revealed alleged pervasive conspiracies orchestrated by inmates to give illegal to state prisons using drones, another indication of the difficulties in Georgia’s jail system.
The recently sealed national indictments charge 23 plaintiffs, most of them current or former captives from within the , Georgia Department of Corrections. Their theories brought meth, marijuana and phones to GDC jails, according to the indictments.
A multiagency research dubbed” Operation Night Drop” identified two systems of jail inmates who worked with outside assassins to give the contraband to , Smith State Prison , in , Glennville,  , Telfair State Prison , in , McRae-Helena , and different services.
The charges were filed in the U. S. District Court ‘s , Southern District , of , Georgia. The state is requesting the seizure of 10 drones and 21 weapon as part of the investigation, according to finds in those documents.
” These prosecutions identify network of people determined to introduce into prison controlled materials and other illegal that compromise the safety and security of individuals who are held in those services and those employed there, and further harm members of the outside public”, said , Jill E. Steinberg,  , U. S.  , Attorney for the , Southern District , of , Georgia, in a media release.
Most of the 23 defendants in the two cases are currently in prison or have been released within the last few years. Six of the people named were working on the outside and never spent time in jail during the alleged conspiracy.
The conspiracies began as early as 2019 and continued through , July 2024, the indictments say.
One of the defendants has been previously connected to a contraband scheme at , Smith State Prison , led by , Nathan Weekes, charged with orchestrating three killings. Deivon Waller, 33, aka” Hitman” and “VP”, was named as part of that conspiracy in a 2022 indictment.
A large number of text messages sent by inmates and others detailing how drugs should be packaged and transported via drones into prisons were released on Wednesday.
In one text chain — between Waller and an ex-inmate identified as , Donald Pate , of , Valdosta , — Waller describes how a drone drop should go down.
The indictment states that the target is “right in the middle of the yard” and that” we do n’t have to worry about no police, so we do n’t kill time.”” Give this to the air, come over drop reload drop reload drop reload drop and go,” Waller wrote on , January 16, 2023.
Four drones were seized from Pate by the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office on , Jan. 19, 2023, the indictment says, while another drone was seized from Pate by the GDC in , Calhoun County , in 2022.
Another text chain cited by authorities shows a man in GDC custody,  , Quinton Samples, and a woman on the outside, identified as , Quinesha Oliver, a , Jonesboro , resident, discussing the GDC’s “drone blocking” issues in 2020.
” Text the white guy and say you’ll give him the$ 150 for the information on how to turn off the no-fly zone,” Samples wrote.
Wednesday’s news of the two conspiracies is just the latest in a series of state and federal cases involving large drug-dealing operations and contraband schemes operating within the , Georgia , prison system. From 2015 to 2022, the AJC found, federal prosecutors filed , 21 major cases , involving drug trafficking operations run from inside at least 25 Georgia state correctional facilities.
Then in March, Gov.  , Brian Kemp , announced that more than 150 people, including a group of correctional officers and the owner of a , Gwinnett County , drone business, had been arrested as part of an investigation dubbed” Operation Skyhawk”. Kemp said Skyhawk led to charges against inmates, officers and civilians in a case in which investigators confiscated$ 7 million worth of goods, including 87 drones, 273 contraband cellphones, 51 pounds of ecstasy and 12 pounds of meth.
Many details of the Skyhawk cases are  , expected to be revealed , as indictments are filed in multiple , Georgia , counties.
In a news release Wednesday, GDC Commissioner , Tyrone Oliver , applauded the team of agents from GDC and other agencies that worked on the case and said the agency would continue to try to block contraband.
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