DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A multi-agency gang investigation ended with 20 alleged criminal street gang (CSG) members and associates arrested on multiple charges in DeKalb County, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Monday.
The case stems back to March of this year when the Cedar Park Police Department in Texas began an aggravated robbery investigation. According to the police, a victim had said he was attending an event in Austin when several men approached him and asked about buying "exotic flowers." The victim said he agreed to take the men to his place of work, which was a vaporizer store. When they got there, the men allegedly pulled out guns and robbed him -- taking his phone, money from the safe and register, along with numerous vape products from the store, police said.
Detectives later linked this Texas crime to metro Atlanta suspected gang members and started to partner with the GBI Gang Task Force and the DeKalb County Police Department (DKPD) to further the investigation, the GBI said.
So, on April 5, agents served search warrants and arrest warrants in Brookhaven and Lithonia. The DeKalb County Police Department said the house in Lithonia led to a seizure of multiple drugs and guns. There were 20 firearms recovered -- with eight being classified as machine guns and six illegal mechanical switches. In addition, law enforcement found 60 lbs of mushrooms, 70g of mushroom gummies, 212g of marijuana gummies, 3 lbs of marijuana, 2 bottles of promethazine, 8 Xanax pills and one oxycodone pill.
The GBI said the alleged gang is accused of using the Lithonia home as a drug distribution hub and a "launching pad for the gang's violent crimes."
All 20 people who have been charged in this incident are from Georgia. Four of them have been charged in connection to the Texas incidents. The charges for those arrested range from Violation of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism Prevention Act to armed robbery, weapons offense and drug trafficking. Only one of the people charged is over 30, and the vast majority are between the ages of 17 and 25.
In addition, DKPD said that four people who were arrested were also wanted for the murder of 27-year-old Nicholas Grierson, who had been killed a few hours prior on April 5 at a Chevron on Snapfinger Road. According to police, those suspects are 18-year-old Joshua Thomas of South Fulton, 20-year-old Amarion Pitts of Covington, 20-year-old Fratavic Goodwin of Jonesboro and 25-year-old Jerry Johnson of Lithonia.
The GBI said this is an ongoing investigation and that additional charges are expected. The investigation included a partnership between the GBI's Gang Task Force, DKPD, the Cedar Park Police Department in Texas, the Texas Department of Public Safety, along with contributions from the U.S. Marshal's Southeastern Regional Fugitive Task Force and the ATF.