PICKENS COUNTY, Ga. — Nearly 50 were arrested and almost 140 kilos of meth were taken off the street in a joint operation that spanned several counties and involved both local, state and federal authorities.
It was part of an investigation dubbed "Operation The Real McCoy."
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the arrests come after an investigation was launched back in September 2019.
"Today, we're happy to announce that over 137 kilos of methamphetamine are off our streets," announced the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Assistant Director John Melvin.
The investigation, authorities said, was centered around the Pickens County-Cherokee County area, but began in Gwinnett and DeKalb counties and spanned across much of the state. It was largely orchestrated, they added, by an inmate already in custody in the Sumter County.
According to officials, their investigation began with a lead back then, but quickly noticed a pattern.
"We started doing surveillance, saw so many people who were interacting with the suspects that we have, and we also started developing the gang aspect," explained Phil Price with the Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad.
Price said they only had a connection at the time to the Ghostface Gangsters, but as investigators continued to work the case, they discovered that the involvement was much broader and included the coordination and cooperation of three gangs - the Ghostface Gangsters, the Gangster Disciples and the Sureños Mexican gang.
After getting the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's drug task force involved, they were able to trace much of the activity back to one man - a Pickens County resident already behind bars at the Sumter County, Georgia correctional facility.
According to authorities, that inmate, 26-year-old Brannon McCoy, acted as a "broker" from within the state prison facility to organize the distribution of meth from Mexico to the streets of North Georgia, Tennessee and West Virginia. Michael Hazelwood, 45, and Ticia Sester, 38 also played key roles in the operation, authorities said.
"The phone call would be made to make an order, and we were able to surveil some of those meetings, identify those sources of supply," Price said.
Overall, authorities said they seized more than 137 kilograms (roughly 300 pounds) of meth valued to be about $1.74 million. Another estimated $100,000 and multiple weapons were also seized.
Price described the investigation as "intense" - especially because it also happened to unfold during the COVID-19 pandemic - but said it was one that paid off.
"It was a very complex investigation, but we take a lot of pride in what we've done," he said.
Mug shots: Arrests made in Pickens County meth distribution ring
John Melvin, the assistant director of the GBI, praised the cooperation of the nearly two dozen agencies and offices involved in the investigation and said it none of the arrests - and hopefully pending convictions, he added - would have happened without all involved.
"The gangs are cooperating, but so are the agencies who are going stand against this evil," he said.
According to Melvin, citing statistics from the Department of Justice and the FBI, there are more than 70,000 suspected gang members currently active in the state, with 50,000 of them operating in the metro area. But, he said they've seen those numbers grow in the last decade.
The growth is largely driven by profits gangs stand to collect from drug trafficking, according to Melvin. It's a pattern Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Robert Hammer said is reflected on a national level.
"We looking at multiple gangs collaborating to import narcotics into the region," he explained. "Mexico continues to be a major source for supply of methamphetamine in the metro Atlanta area, and certainly here in Pickens County. The scourge that the drugs and the gangs cause in this community is no more prevalent than today."
Despite the battle they said they face, all the agency representatives said they will continue to fight. All that's needed is vigilance, they said, especially from the community.
"Without the help of the citizens of Georgia, we would be dead in the water," Price said. "It was from those small things that we were able to do our jobs and they lead to these kinds of investigations."
Re-watch the briefing below.
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