Investigators arrested a half-dozen people they say were running a drug trafficking operation out of a Douglas County motel.
Over the summer, the Douglas sheriff’s office learned the group was operating the drug ring out of the Efficiency Lodge on Fairburn Road, the agency said in a news release Monday. A monthslong investigation ensued in which undercover detectives bought illegal narcotics from the suspects.
“During these operations, some individuals involved were often armed, and utilized communication devices to thwart any type of law enforcement intervention,” the sheriff’s office said.
The investigation came to a head Thursday morning. Agents from the Douglas sheriff’s office, Douglasville Police Department and Georgia Department of Public Safety went to the hotel with multiple search warrants in hand, officials said.
Investigators searched several motel rooms and an office, the sheriff’s office said. Other agents executed a search warrant at a home in the 3600 block of Sweet Briar Circle in Lithia Springs, which was believed to be connected to the operation.
Altogether, officials found marijuana, cocaine, crack cocaine and methamphetamine, according to the sheriff’s office. Agents also found U.S. currency and five guns.
Alviro Smith, 24, Deselvia Greely, 30, Paul Robinson, 39, Trina Robinson, 36, Michael Sasser, 32, and Victor Medina, 45, were taken into custody in connection with the investigation. Charges range from racketeering and possession of a firearm during the violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act to reckless conduct and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
The arrests come just over a year after two men were taken into custody and accused of killing a maintenance worker at the same hotel.
Kevin James Flamer, 20, and Jeffery Lamar Kemp, 21, were both charged in the October 2019 death of Thomas Edward Ball Jr., 42. Investigators previously said Flamer and Kemp shot the maintenance worker after a dispute. The status of that case is not known.
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