By Jesse Fraga
The Macon Telegraph
MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Three people, and likely more, allegedly tried to deliver thousands of dollars of contraband on a drone into Baldwin State Prison on New Year’s Day, according to the Milledgeville Police Department.
But their drone didn’t make it to the prison before officers intercepted it, according to Maj. Brandon Sellers, who leads the police department’s Criminal Investigation Division and Special Response Team.
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Detectives and officers investigated the conspiracy and saw a 30-pound drone flying in the air about half a mile away from the prison. It was “probably the biggest drone, size-wise … that either dropped or was going to drop out there at that prison,” Sellers told The Telegraph.
A man was found with $8,000 cash and common contraband, including cigarettes and lighters, that he allegedly planned to deliver on the drone to the prison, according to Sellers.
A police dog sniffed out some of the contraband involved in the “prison drop,” and found two suspects in the woods, Sellers said.
“What he’s finding is anything that’s got a recent scent on it,” Sellers said.
Police intercepted the drone after 2 a.m. Thursday. They had suspects bring it back to the ground and did not shoot it down, according to Sellers. It is illegal under federal law to shoot an aircraft.
“Unmanned drones or airplanes doing a prison drop or not, that is still considered an aircraft so you cannot shoot at it,” he said.
Three suspects from Lagrange were arrested that day, including Jeffery Young, 39; Cardell Merrick, 48; and Nikita Swanson, 48, the police department said.
Young and Merrick faced three charges: use of an unmanned aircraft to deliver or attempt to deliver contraband; attempt or conspiracy to introduce contraband; and aiding, abetting or conspiring in the use of an unmanned aircraft to deliver contraband.
Swanson faced two charges: attempt or conspiracy to introduce contraband; and aiding, abetting or conspiring in the use of an unmanned aircraft to deliver contraband.
They may face more charges, and other people might get arrested, according to Sellers.
“This is kind of a big conspiracy. This is kind of how these folks do this: they use multiple people, multiple vehicles to do these drops,” Sellers said, referring to what he called “prison drops.”
Around four to five drones heading to the Baldwin State Prison are intercepted monthly, Sellers said. The number of times contraband successfully enters the prison is even greater.
He estimated hundreds of phones are currently in the prison from contraband drops. The police department was working to issue search warrants to investigate who uses, conspires and delivers the phones.
“The majority of the contraband we end up intercepting going into the prison will have 10, 15, 20 cell phones at a time, probably double that in cell phone chargers,” Sellers said. Drones over prisons not a new thing
Drones used to deliver contraband is a growing issue in Georgia.
“The Department of Corrections is saying this is a problem and getting the legislature to jump on this pretty quick,” Sellers said.
The police department didn’t immediately share incident reports, which describe officers’ accounts of what happened.
Sellers declined to share how each suspect was involved with the incident.
This and other contraband cases were being investigated by the police department.
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