Drug trafficking conspiracy inside, outside Macon jail leads to arrests
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- Bibb County jail drug probe led to 11 suspected traffickers being arrested.
- Operation Westside Wakeup recovered drugs, firearms and $110,000 in cash.
- Title-3 wiretaps enabled the sheriff’s office to lead its first case in 10 years.
An investigation into the distribution of synthetic marijuana, or K-2, inside the Bibb County Jail led to 11 suspected gang members being arrested and charged with drug crimes, the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said Friday afternoon.
The investigation started in January, as officers monitored suspect Akbar Harclerode Sr.’s jail cell and found he had allegedly conspired with his girlfriend, Kierra Howard, and his brother, Hassan Harclerode Sr., to distribute K-2 inside the Bibb County Jail, deputies said.
Further investigation revealed there was “a large conspiracy to distribute not only the K-2 product in the jail but a conspiracy to traffic cocaine” in Bibb County by the Macon Mafia Gang, deputies said.
“This operation illustrates how the illicit drug trade reaches from the cell block to the city street,” Sheriff David Davis said.
By April, the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and a local Special Response Team collaborated to retrieve drugs in Macon under “Operation Westside Wakeup,” an investigation that allowed them to intercept suspects’ electronic devices, deputies with the sheriff’s office said.
Officers executed search warrants simultaneously in three separate locations in Macon on May 23. They recovered 17 pounds of marijuana, 1.28 pounds of cocaine or crack cocaine, 3 ounces of ecstasy, a Canik 9 mm handgun, a Great Lakes GL-15 rifle, an Anderson Manufacturing AR-15 rifle, digital scales, packaging materials and “approximately $110,000 dollars in US currency from drug proceeds,” deputies said Friday.
Hassan Harclerode was apprehended in a traffic stop leaving one of the locations where a search warrant was executed, the sheriff’s office said. He was charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Georgia Controlled Substance Act, one count of trafficking cocaine, one count of trafficking ecstasy, one count of trafficking marijuana and one count of conspiring to traffic cocaine.
Akbar Harclerode Sr. — who was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, one count of probation violation, one count of conspiracy to commit a felony and one count of receipt, possession or transfer of a firearm by a convicted felon — additionally was charged with one count of conspiring to violate the Georgia Controlled Substance Act and three counts of possessing a firearm by a convicted felon on June 10, deputies said.
Howard was arrested and charged with conspiring to violate the Georgia Controlled Substances Act on June 10. Akbar Harclerode Jr. was also apprehended and charged with one count of conspiracy to traffic cocaine, one count of trafficking fentanyl, two counts of possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony and one count of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute, deputies said.
Several other conspirators were also arrested and charged with one count of conspiracy for trafficking cocaine, including:
- Chanika Shamill Randall
- Rodney Dewayne Clyde
- Arias Lamar Clyde
- Gregory Arnett Woodard
- Thomas Jerry Butler
- Tylon Evans
- Clarence Davis Smith
Intercepting electronic communications made this a Title-3 investigation, the sheriff’s office said.
“This type of Investigation would be the first Title-3 Investigation that the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office has spearheaded and taken on as the lead investigative agency over in 10 years,” deputies said. “We are very impressed with the outcome and glad to have success in recovering these illegal drugs off our streets.”
This story was originally published June 13, 2025 at 2:57 PM.
