News

A Baldwin County man with a prior aggravated assault conviction, who had a pistol with an extended magazine during a tense standoff with deputies, was found guilty by a federal jury of illegally possessing a firearm this week.

The leader of an armed drug trafficking organization based in Middle Georgia was sentenced to serve 28 years in prison for supplying large quantities of methamphetamine in the community.

A Macon resident who brandished a firearm during two bank robberies and an attempted bank robbery in 2022—causing victims to suffer panic attacks and stealing a total of $38,274—was sentenced to prison this week.

A resident of Macon pleaded guilty to a federal gun charge this week for illegally possessing a firearm when he was taken into custody for violating his probation.

ALBANY, Ga. – A Texas man acting as an insurance adjuster cheated an Albany church out of millions of dollars paid out by its insurance company to repair its facilities, which were heavily damaged by Hurricane Michael in 2018 and are still not fully repaired. Andrew Mitchell aka “Andrew Aga,” 45, of Kemeh, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud before U.S. District Judge W. Louis Sands on March 27. Mitchell faces a maximum of 30 years in prison, to be followed by at least three years of supervised release and a $1,000,000 fine.

MACON, Ga. – A former law school student who possessed more than 10,000 images of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on his cell phone and uploaded on cloud-based storage was sentenced to serve more than six years in prison for his crime. Gregory Gallagher, 37, of Marietta, Georgia, was sentenced to serve 78 months in prison to be followed by 15 years of supervised release and ordered to pay $169,649.12 in restitution to the victims by U.S. District Judge C. Ashley Royal on March 26. Gallagher will also be required to register as a sex offender upon release from prison. The defendant

ALBANY, Ga. – A Valdosta, Georgia, man was sentenced to the statutory maximum of 30 years in prison for producing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), also known as child pornography, plus an additional three years of imprisonment for assaulting a jailer while in federal custody. Laronce Howell, 46, of Valdosta, was sentenced to serve a total of 396 months in prison (the statutory maximum of 360 months for the production of child pornography and 36 months in prison for assault of a federal officer) by U.S. District Judge W. Louis Sands on March 26. In addition, he will serve 15 years of

MACON, Ga. – A Metro Atlanta resident who orchestrated a bank fraud scheme involving checks stolen from a Macon mail collection box that he would sell online pleaded guilty to bank fraud in federal court today. Keyon Ponder, 28, of Fayetteville, Georgia, pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud before U.S. District Judge C. Ashley Royal on March 24. Ponder faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release and a $1,000,000 fine. The Court will determine a sentencing date. There is no parole in the federal system.
 

MACON, Ga. – A Henry County man who had a stolen Glock 9mm handgun with a loaded 30-round extended magazine capable of converting to a fully automatic weapon while at the Labor and Delivery unit of a hospital has pleaded guilty to possessing a machinegun. Terrell Monquez Searcy, 21, of McDonough, Georgia, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a machinegun before U.S. District Judge Tilman E. “Tripp” Self on March 20. Sentencing is scheduled for June 4, 2025, in Athens. There is no parole in the federal system.

A Venezuelan man who entered the United States illegally and who admitted to possessing a fraudulent Green Card during the murder investigation of a 22-year-old nursing student was sentenced to serve 48 months in prison—above the federal sentencing guideline range—and to be deported along with his brother and a former roommate.

A Washington County, Georgia, man who made threats and racial slurs against a letter carrier and then six months later escalated his threats when he hit the letter carrier’s vehicle with his tractor was found guilty of aggravated assault and other charges.

A Macon man who broke out of the Bibb County Jail in 2023 as he was awaiting federal sentencing for armed drug trafficking and who was later captured in Augusta, Georgia, allegedly possessing kilograms of fentanyl and methamphetamine plus firearms was sentenced to life plus five years in prison today.