Operation Hidden Eye nets 33 arrests in Bibb County sting led by gang investigators
In announcing the arrests of 33 people in a month-and-a-half-long probe by gang investigators into various alleged criminal acts, Bibb County’s sheriff on Tuesday used the moment to trumpet a “significant” drop in the crime rate for the first 10 months of the year.
Sheriff David Davis said his department’s efforts, including the nearly three dozen arrests in an endeavor dubbed Operation Hidden Eye, have contributed to helping trim nearly in half the county’s murder rate.
Compared to the January-to-October homicide death toll last year, a span that saw 36 people slain, this year there were 20 such deaths during those 10 months, a 44% drop.
Reported instances of aggravated assault — which include shootings — along with battery cases were down 10% for that same stretch, while burglaries dropped 29%.
While none of those arrested were accused killers, the sheriff said the jailings were for “a spectrum of crimes,” including probation violations, gun charges, alleged gang activity and thefts.
Davis said the arrests, along with proactive patrol measures throughout the year, have played at least some role in “a significant, marked reduction in crime.”
“So when people talk about (how) things are bad, things are not that bad,” Davis told a gathering of Macon news reporters in downtown Tuesday morning.
“We are turning the corner, especially on some of the violent crimes and even on some of the property crimes. But we must remain vigilant, everyone must continue their diligence that we have shown so far this year, both the community and our officers.”
The sheriff also touted the apprehension of a 23-year-old Macon man named Tyree Percadon Welch.
Welch was wanted for his alleged participation in gang crimes, making terroristic threats and violating the terms of his probation.
In early 2015, Welch was formally charged with taking a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson pistol to a Westside High School basketball game the previous November.
He was also charged then with participating in gang activity linked to the Crips street gang. The gang charge was dropped, but he was sentenced to eight years on probation as a first-offender on the gun charge.
Welch has since had his probation revoked and been accused of failing to report to his probation officer. Additionally, he faces charges of criminal damage, battery and gang activity.
He was arrested in the wee hours of Nov. 3 after Tatreaus Gray, an off-duty sheriff’s deputy, spotted Welch at a downtown nightclub.
Gray chased Welch into the Ocmulgee River where Welch fell in the water. After a scuffle, as Sheriff Davis described it, Gray “was able to fish him out of the river and bring him to jail.”
More significantly, a video circulating on social media sometime before that showed Welch talking to a boy who was maybe 5 years old — a relative of Welch’s — and “enticing this child to be involved in gang activities,” the sheriff said.
A man the sheriff said has been identified as Welch can be heard in the video goading the boy to declare his gang allegiance.
“I heard you Blood,” the man says to the child, referring to the name of a rival street gang.
“I’m not Blood!” the boy shouts. “I’m Crip!”
“You ain’t even got no gun, bruh,” the man continues.
“I got a gun!” the boy squeals.
“No, you don’t,” the man replies.
“I’m gonna get a gun,” the boy says, “and I’m gonna shoot you in the head.”
Upon playing the video for reporters on Tuesday, Davis said, “If you notice, this is a little kid who is probably less than 6 years old, and he already knows the gangspeak. He knows the gang symbols and all of the talk. So it is incumbent on us as a community to stay involved with these young people and get them on the right path.”