SCSO NEWS

Three arrests in underground pot grow

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:12:05 -0400

Published in the Toccoa Record, June 25

By Todd Truelove
The Toccoa Record
Thursday, June 25, 2009 12:27 PM EDT

A trapdoor in a mobile home recently led law officers down into an underground room that was being used to grow highly-potent marijuana, according to Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley.

Officers arrested three people at the pot-manufacturing operation located at 513 Navaho Trail in the Lake Harbor Shores community.

They are Mark Ramey, 47; Christopher Ramey, 25; and Brandi Ramey, 22.

Each was charged with possession with intent to distribute and possession of firearms while committing a felony.

Shirley said the trapdoor was in the floor of a bedroom addition built onto a doublewide mobile home unit and that it led down into a 10-foot by 20-foot cargo trailer that had been buried underneath the house.

"We had information that there was an indoor marijuana grow," said Shirley, the day after a June 18 operation conducted by personnel from multiple law enforcement agencies including the Stephens County Sheriff's Office, Toccoa Police Department, Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Franklin Springs Police Department, Georgia National Guard and the newly formed Mountain Judicial Circuit's Narcotics and Interdiction Unit.

"It was a year-round grow operation," said Shirley, adding it was unknown precisely how long the alleged illegal activities had been going on.

Various types of marijuana were found growing including 22 hydroponic plants that Shirley said had five times more of the amount of Tetrahydrocannabinoids (THC) that regular marijuana plants contain.

A total of 36 domestic plants also were confiscated along with formulas and fertilizers.

The plants had an estimated street value of about $150,000, Shirldy said.

"They were also cloning marijuana," said Shirley, adding the cloning formulation was undertaken from marijuana from Canada.

Earlier the same day, law enforcement officers also made five other arrests at two separate locations in unrelated drug operations.

At 42 Henrietta St.; Jamita Arthur, 19, and Deiseka Johnson, 24, were arrested on a charge of possession of cocaine.

At 363 Edwards St.; Benjamin Camarillo, 30, of Lavonia, was arrested on charges of possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana and possession of firearms while committing a felony.

Also arrested at the Edwards Street location were Camilla Jones, 27, of El Paso, Texas; and Antonio Maxwell, 29, of 203 Glendale St. — each charged with possession of cocaine.

Shirley said the Henrietta and Edwards Street arrests were not tied to the underground grow operation.

Site Changes

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:31:58 -0400

You’ve probably noticed the layout changes already. I decided to change up the quick and dirty pages I threw out just to get something up and changed the site navigation a bit. There are still placeholder pages under FAQ’s, Careers, Administration, Special Units, and Investigations until I can get more information and pictures from the folks in those areas (hint hint); and a distinct lack of pictures under Uniform Patrol until I can get out and take some.

The “backend”, or behind-the-scenes, data collection for the Sex Offender Registry is still on the to-do list so the data in it is probably out of date. The data we have on paper is current, of course; just not what’s displayed on the site. The current data, as always, can be found at the GBI search site linked to on the Sex Offender page.

We at the Sheriff’s Office (and especially myself, personally) are digging out from under the large pile of work that comes with any leadership transition; but there is now light at the end of the tunnel. The newly revised Jail Policy and Procedures manual is complete and being reviewed by the Sheriff; revised General SOP’s are 80% done; and with the approval of the budget by the Commissioners, much needed (desperately needed, in fact) equipment and uniforms are making their way to the Deputies. All of this has slowed work on the website, and for that I apologize. But there are still new features to come for the site that you will gradually see appear; including the possibility of a podcast? We shall see.

Crimes Targeting Senior Citizens

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Over the past few days, the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office has received reports of individuals perpetrating thefts against our senior citizens. According to the reports, the individuals represent themselves as utility workers. One of the individuals will distract their victim outside of the victim’s residence while the other individual enters the residence and takes whatever personal property of value he can find.

Any citizen who is approached by one or more individuals claiming to have a work order in reference to utility poles or other public service repair and/or maintenance should immediately call 911 and request that a deputy be dispatched to his or her residence.

For further informaton, please contact the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division at (706) 886-7048.

Recent check scam

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Over the past several weeks, the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office has received several calls in reference to checks being received in the mail. The checks are usually accompanied by a letter (originating from Nigeria, Canada, or another country) stating that the recipient of the check has won a survey drawing and that the recipient is entitled to a large sum of money. The letter further states that the enclosed check is a portion of the winnings that must be paid over to a tax agent in reference to a non-residential government service tax.

Citizens receiving correspondence similar to this should not, under any circumstances, cash the check and/or forward any money to the person identified in the letter. These are fraudulent checks and any money received as a result of cashing the check will require repayment by the recipient.

Please contact the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division at (706) 886-7048 for additional information.