Once again, the Eatonton Police Department and Putnam County Sheriff’s Office combined forces to get drugs off the streets. In the most recent arrest, they put a stop to drugs being sold from downtown businesses, according to Lt. Harry Luke.
In an earlier case, a cocaine dealer was arrested at his city residence with an automatic rifle in his possession.
Putnam County Sheriff’s Lt. Luke said neighbors complained to him and Eatonton Police Chief Howell Cardwell about the activity at the residences and downtown businesses.
“These investigations and arrests were in cooperation with Eatonton Police Department; Chief Cardwell and I did the investigations together,” Luke emphasized.
On Sept. 28, they arrested Danny Ray Williams, 45, of the 100 block of Edgewater Drive in Putnam County. Williams is being held without bond on charges of Violation of the Georgia Controlled Substance Act – five counts of sale of methamphetamine, as well as one count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
Williams worked as a bartender in downtown Eatonton, where law enforcement officers had made controlled buys from him, Luke said.
The purchases were cause for them to get a search warrant for Williams’ house near Lake Sinclair in Putnam County.
“All the neighbors kept complaining to us about the traffic going in and out of the residence and how the property looked like a junkyard,” Luke said.
On their way to search the residence, the officers by happenstance came upon Williams driving along the road and pulled him over. Luke said they found about 3.7 grams of methamphetamine, some scales, packaging materials and some cash in his truck.
There were two women living at the house who also were arrested – Christi Sue White, 32, and Ashley Nicole Lewis, 27, both charged with possession of a drug-related object and possession of methamphetamine.
In a separate case, Luke said he and Cardwell made undercover purchases of cocaine from Marcus Mathis in Eatonton.
On Sept. 21, they and a tactical team from Jasper County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at Mathis’ house on the 200 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Eatonton.
“Both (Chief) Howell (Cardwell) and myself had been getting a lot of complaints about this house; it’s nothing but a trap house,” Luke said. They reportedly confiscated a small amount of cocaine and marijuana, scales, packaging materials, about $2,500 cash, a .380 handgun and an AR15 rifle.
Mathis, 43, is in Putnam County jail facing charges of VGCSA – possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, sale of cocaine, possession of a firearm during an attempt to commit crimes, and possession of or sale of marijuana.
Also arrested at his house was Kevin Cornelius Farley, 39, of the 300 block of MLK Jr. Drive, charged with misdemeanor possession of less than one ounce of marijuana. Farley was released on a $1,005 property bond.