Bainbridge Public Safety investigators helped their counterparts in south Georgia make a big drug bust this week.

The South Georgia Drug Task Force received a request for assistance from Bainbridge Public Safety regarding information they received concerning a vehicle containing a large quantity of cocaine traveling through Lanier County, which is located near the city of Valdosta, Ga.

The information was that a 1988 green Honda Civic with a South Carolina tag would be traveling through Lanier County transporting cocaine. The vehicle was located by Task Force agents and stopped by Georgia State Patrol Trooper, initially for a window tint violation. A Georgia Department of Corrections K-9 assisted with the stop as well. The driver of the vehicle, Jacqueline Grant Kelly of Ray City, Ga., was issued a citation for the window tint violation. Kelly consented to GBI agents’ request to search of her vehicle.

The K-9 alerted to the presence of illegal narcotics on the front passenger area of the vehicle. A further search found two separate bags of cocaine in two separate areas of the vehicle. The total amount of cocaine seized was approximately one kilogram, which has a street value of approximately $30,000.

The Lanier County Sheriff’s Office and Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office assisted with the investigation and vehicle stop as well. Kelly and her two passengers, Albert Lee Brice also of Ray City, and Pierce Eric Screen of Valdosta, were arrested for trafficking in cocaine and transported to the Lanier County Sheriff’s Office for processing.

 

County employee charged with theft

A former employee of the Decatur County Clerk of Courts office has been charged with theft by taking.

Gladys Tomlin Sanders, 64, was arrested Tuesday, Feb. 21, by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and charged with theft by taking.

Investigation into Sanders arose from a discrepancy that had been noticed in the money received for passport applications at the Clerk of Courts Office. Sanders is charged with taking less than $500.

Clerk of Courts Cecilia Willis requested the help of Sheriff Wiley Griffin. Griffin then requested the assistance of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. Willis formerly worked for the Sheriff’s Office before being elected Clerk of Courts in 2008.