After escape from Bibb County Jail, suspect gets life sentence for other charges
One of the four people who escaped from the Bibb County Jail in 2023 was given a life sentence in Macon federal court Tuesday, federal prosecutors said.
Johnifer Barnwell was in federal court Tuesday morning in front of Judge C. Ashley Royal to be sentenced for two of his cases. One of them was for a slew of drug trafficking charges, which he was found guilty of after a trial in October 2023. The other was his escape case, which he pleaded guilty to in July last year.
For his drug trafficking charges, he was sentenced to life. For his escape charge, he received five years.
“Despite his attempts to escape justice, Johnifer Barnwell has been held accountable for his criminal actions,” said Acting U.S. Attorney C. Shanelle Booker.
Macon escapee’s drug case
The FBI began investigating a large-scale drug ring in March 2020 and identified Barnwell and Kenneth Emanuel Pertillo Jr. as distributors who were part of a criminal street gang called “Mafia,” prosecutors say. FBI agents purchased drugs from other defendants and wiretapped five phones used by other members of the organization, including Barnwell.
The sales occurred in trap houses on Mimosa Drive and Culver Street as well as a local nightclub, court records show.
The heroin obtained by the FBI agents was mixed with fentanyl, prosecutors said.
Agents executed search warrants in 11 Macon trap houses and distribution locations on Forest Hill Road, Riverside Park Boulevard, Lucerne Drive, Shurling Drive and Kingsview Drive, as well as the locations where the heroin was sold to them, court records show. They found 8 kilograms of fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and cocaine base as well as 20 firearms, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, large-capacity firearm magazines and more than $50,000 in cash, prosecutors said.
The FBI also raided an apartment used as a drug lab on Riverside Park Boulevard where Barnwell and Pertillo would mix fentanyl and heroin in a kitchen blender before selling it, according to prosecutors. They also found 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine, 1 kilogram of pure fentanyl, more than 1 kilogram of a pure fentanyl chemical analogue and more than 2 kilograms of blends that contained fentanyl, heroin and fentanyl analogue mix.
They also found half a kilogram of pure heroin, more than 280 grams of cocaine base, 80 grams of cocaine and 64 grams of ketamine, several firearms, a fully-loaded AR-14 drum magazine, ammunition and $5,778 in cash at the apartment.
Barnwell and Pertillo were charged alongside 13 other co-defendants. While Pertillo and Barnwell were sentenced to life, the other defendants’ punishments ranged from probation to 25 years in prison.
Accomplices in Bibb County escape
While Barnwell was awaiting sentencing at the Bibb County Jail, he and inmates Chavis Stokes, Marc Kerry Anderson and Joey Fournier escaped the jail on Oct. 16, 2023, court records say. An unidentified man was captured in surveillance footage after 10 p.m. the prior night, driving a blue Dodge Challenger near a fence outside the jail. The footage showed him cut a hole in the fence, drop a backpack, get back in his car and leave.
The Challenger was seen again at 3:20 a.m., when Barnwell and another inmate were seen running toward the fence, grabbing the backpack and exiting the jail through the holes, according to an affidavit from an FBI agent. Two inmates later followed.
Stokes was the first to be caught after the U.S. Marshals were tipped that he was seen in a single-wide trailer in Montezuma. He was arrested on Oct. 26, 2023.
Anderson was captured Nov. 3, 2023, at an apartment in Atlanta.
Barnwell was captured Nov. 12, 2023, alone in a house.
Fournier was the last inmate to be caught. He was arrested in Clayton County by the U.S. Marshals and the sheriff’s offices of Bibb, Clayton and Henry counties on Nov. 18, 2023.
Stokes and Anderson pleaded guilty early last year and were sentenced to five years for the escape. Fournier’s escape case is still pending in Bibb County Superior Court, with court records showing he was arraigned March 10.
Court records show there were accomplices who helped the inmates escape. Janecia Green admitted to helping Barnwell escape by buying a 4-pound mallet and chisel from a home improvement store and giving them to an associate of Barnwell’s, who smuggled the items into the jail, according to her plea agreement. They were used to make an opening in the wall. She was sentenced to two years and five months in prison.
Mykia Williams, Jakaylen Williams, Tymesha Timley and Jacorshia Smith were charged with aiding the escape as well. Jakaylen Williams faces an additional charge of theft for allegedly stealing the Dodge Challenger that was used in the escape. Timley faces one count of hindering the apprehension of Anderson. Their cases are still pending in Bibb County Superior Court.
This story was originally published March 12, 2025 at 11:56 AM.
