News

ALBANY, Ga. – Two Southwest Georgia men who used online tax preparation software to file state of New York tax returns falsely claiming film industry credits for people who never worked in New York or in film and television are facing several decades in prison for their crimes.

MACON, Ga. – The final of seven defendants involved in a methamphetamine trafficking network sourcing methamphetamine from Atlanta for distribution in Milledgeville, Georgia, has been brought to justice resulting from an Operation Take Back America investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office.

MACON, Ga. – U.S. Attorney William R. “Will” Keyes today announced the unsealing of a 38-count federal indictment charging 10 Fort Valley, Georgia, men with alleged crimes associated with an armed drug trafficking ring resulting from an Operation Take Back America investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Peach County Sheriff’s Office.

MACON, Ga. — U.S. Attorney William R. “Will” Keyes today announced that a federal grand jury has returned an eight-count indictment charging a couple with allegedly starving their son to death and abusing their pets, causing the death of one of their dogs.

ALBANY, Ga. – U.S. Attorney William R. “Will” Keyes today announced the unsealing of a criminal complaint charging a Jamaican citizen and music artist residing in the United States on an O-1B visa, with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person after he was allegedly caught with multiple guns and 92 rounds of ammunition after fleeing deputies in Turner County, Georgia, in November. 

ALBANY, Ga. – A South Georgia resident with three prior felony convictions for drug distribution was sentenced to serve 12 years in prison for armed drug distribution.

Quentin Hall, 30, of Valdosta, was sentenced to serve 204 months in prison to be followed by six years of supervised release by Senior U.S. District Judge W. Louis Sands on July 8, after he previously pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and one count of possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug trafficking crime on April 8. There is no parole in the federal system.

MACON, Ga. – A South Carolina Man who maliciously set fire to a church in Byron, Georgia, was sentenced to prison today.

Luke Andrew Westefeld, 35, of North Augusta, South Carolina, was sentenced to serve 60 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release on July 9 by U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell after he pleaded guilty to one count of malicious use of fire on April 6. There is no parole in the federal system.

ATHENS, Ga. – A federal jury convicted two Georgia residents for their roles in an armed drug trafficking network linked to a cartel that distributed fentanyl, methamphetamine, and other controlled substances throughout the Athens community, with the Homeland Security Task Force investigation led by FBI resulting in the seizure of more than two dozen firearms.

ATHENS, Ga. – A Georgia inmate and a co-conspirator were sentenced to federal prison today for trafficking fentanyl and a synthetic designer drug from China into the state resulting from a Homeland Security Task Force investigation led by FBI and the United States Postal Inspection Service.

VALDOSTA, Ga. — Lowndes County Sheriff’s Deputy Lieutenant Herb Bennett received the Middle District of Georgia’s “Hometown Hero” award today from U.S. Attorney William R. “Will” Keyes, an honor given as part of the Department of Justice’s Freedom 250 initiative, a nationwide effort in which every United States Attorney’s Office recognizes citizens whose service, leadership, and dedication have made a significant impact in their communities in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.

ATHENS, Ga. — U.S. Attorney William R. “Will” Keyes today announced that five people have been charged in a 23-count indictment in the Middle District of Georgia as members of an alleged firearms trafficking ring operating between Athens and Chicago providing weapons to gang members, with some of the guns linked to acts of violence—including a murder in Chicago committed by a juvenile—in this Homeland Security Task Force investigation led by ATF.

ALBANY, Ga. – An Alabama resident was sentenced to serve more than a decade in prison after he was caught by an undercover Homeland Security Investigations agent distributing child sexual abuse material of young female children online while he was living in Southwest Georgia.