‘Walmarts for drugs.’ 24 jailed, $325K worth of drugs seized in stings at west Macon motels
A law enforcement sting aimed at curtailing alleged narcotics dealing at discount motels in west Macon over the past few months has landed 24 people in jail and taken more than $325,000 worth of drugs off the streets, Bibb County sheriff’s officials announced Thursday.
At an afternoon news conference, one sheriff’s investigator described the various motel-room, dope-peddling operations said to have been run by some of the accused as “Walmarts for drugs.”
“The drug-selling business has evolved,” Sheriff David Davis told reporters. “We are seeing it more and more in the hotel setting, where they are setting up shop where they hope that they are not gonna be seen.”
Sheriff’s officials at the end of last summer noticed an increase in reports of criminal activity at eight discount motels near the Eisenhower Parkway interchange at Interstate 475 on the city’s west side.
From January 2019 through August there were nearly 150 complaints of drug crimes and other “nefarious activity,” according to the sherifft.
Working along with the FBI and other midstate law enforcement agencies, sheriff’s deputies began making drug cases from September through the end of the year in what they dubbed “Operation Extended Stay.”
Some of those arrested had checked into rooms at the motels and were using the rooms as drug-selling spots, officials said.
Davis said that among those jailed were a “high-level street seller” named Carlos Chaz Brown, a 31-year-old Macon man who was charged with conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine and other drug-trafficking crimes.
The sheriff said others arrested included alleged “mid-level distributors” and an alleged drug “wholesaler” from McDonough.
The four-month, drug-seizing operation included a haul of 5 pounds of meth worth $230,000 on the street along with 10 pounds of marijuana worth about $80,000 and other seizures that included smaller but potent amounts of heroin.
This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 4:31 PM.