Top drug-dealing crony of convicted Macon cocaine and marijuana kingpin sent to prison
A top drug-dealing associate of a recently convicted Middle Georgia cocaine-and-marijuana kingpin pleaded guilty this week to charges in connection with a Macon-based ring that pumped millions of dollars worth of narcotics into the region.
Lemark Williams was sentenced to 21 years in state prison and another two decades on probation upon pleading guilty in Houston County Superior Court on Wednesday. He pleaded to two counts of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law.
Williams, 49, of Macon, was linked to an illicit drug-peddling operation with ties to the Gulf Cartel that was, in 2019 and early 2020, thought to have imported some 40 kilograms of cocaine a month to Middle Georgia.
The organization’s kingpin, Dexter Williams, no relation to Lemark Williams, was found guilty of similar narcotics-conspiracy charges in a trial last fall. Dexter Williams was sentenced to 40 years behind bars.
The Telegraph reported in November that Houston sheriff’s investigators began zeroing in on the Williamses during a sprawling, wiretap-aided probe in late 2019. The investigators’ aim was to track down the sources supplying a prolific Warner Robins-area dealer.
The trail eventually led to Lemark and Dexter Williams in a case that involved the monitoring of more than 25,000 telephone conversations and text messages, and led to more than a dozen arrests of alleged drug sellers.
More guilty pleas from lower-level associates were expected.
In a statement Thursday, deputy chief assistant district attorney Greg Winters said, “In over twenty years as a prosecutor, I have never seen anything close to the amount of cocaine and other illegal narcotics being moved and distributed by Lemark Williams and his co-defendants.”
Acting District Attorney William M. Kendall added that Lemark Williams and others in the drug ring “believed that distributing illegal narcotics in Houston and surrounding counties was nothing more than a business proposition.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2022 at 2:30 PM.