SPALDING COUNTY, Ga. — The Spalding County sheriff and other officials announced more than 100 indictments tied to gang activity spanning across multiple counties. It's part of a multi-agency crackdown in Georgia.
Multiple law enforcement agencies gathered Thursday to discuss "Operation Bloodclot" and "Operation Krack the Ice."
"Operation Bloodclot" resulted in 57 arrests with 76 indictments, and 34 other people were indicted in "Operation Krack the Ice."
"They are active participants in this gang who profit from the gain from their gang activities," Sheriff Darrell Dix said.
The sheriff said his law enforcement officers are helping get suspected gang members off the streets.
"To gang members out there, 'Get out while you can and live a productive life,' or you can become a statistic and get a GDC prison number assigned," Dix said. "One way or the other, if you fool around, you [are going to] find out."
The initiatives targeted individuals, officials said, who were not only responsible for trafficking drugs and multiple deadly shootings but they're also believed to be responsible for recruiting young children to become members.
"Even children in our elementary schools -- elementary schools are being recruited by gangs, wooed by the idea of quick and easy money, respect and a sense of belonging," Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Marie G. Broder said.
Dix said some suspects are believed to be responsible for multiple shooting deaths, including Jacqueris Holland who was killed last summer, and 11-year-old Asijah Love Jones who was hit by a stray bullet in March
"This is what happens when you come together; you leverage your assets and your resources to do one thing - keep the people of this state safe," Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation sent a news release about the initiative "Operation Krack the Ice." The agency said in 2020, it determined an inmate at the Georgia State Prison in Tattnall County was operating a drug trafficking enterprise from behind bars.
That inmate, Chad Ashley Allen, is serving a life sentence for murder and, according to GBI, is a part of the Ghostface Gangsters. The GBI claims Allen was working with Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) and other members of the Ghostface Gangsters, Gangster Disciples, Sureños and Bloods criminal street gangs.
From April 2014 to September 2022, investigators said the 34 indicted in "Operation Krack the Ice" participated in racketeering activity. Read more about the operation here.