More than 50 kilos of methamphetamine will never make it to the streets after it was seized in Putnam County by Putnam, Jasper, and federal authorities.
Putnam County Sheriff’s Lt. Harry Luke estimated the street value of the approximate 108 pounds of meth to be around $2 million.
Luke said he and PCSO Detective J.D. Turk were contacted on July 24 by a Homeland Security Investigations agent informing them of a methamphetamine delivery coming to Eatonton from Mexico. The HSI agent asked if Turk and Luke, the two narcotics detectives at PCSO, would be interested in handling the case, and Turk readily agreed.
Using the information from the Homeland Security agent, Turk organized a surveillance of the address on Shady Dale Road that was slated for the delivery. Turk solicited help from the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office and studied the property, “so we wouldn’t be running around blind when we got there,” he said. The address on the package — 322 Shady Dale Road — is where Mario Munoz lives.
On July 30, two Putnam County Sheriff’s deputies pulled Munoz over on a traffic stop after he pulled out of the driveway of his house. Turk and Luke, along with six Jasper County Sheriff’s deputies and more than a dozen Homeland Security agents, were nearby. They took Munoz back to his house, and he showed them where he put the package when it had been delivered – underneath a shed.
When the box was opened, authorities found it contained 26 kilos of what they believed to be methamphetamine powder. The powder had been mixed with a masking agent to make it look like paint pigment, Luke said. He conducted a field test on the powder, which tested positive for methamphetamine.
“Our biggest concern when we opened it was to make sure it would just be meth and not fentanyl, because you never know what is mixed with it,” Luke said. “If they’ve put those masking agents in it to make it look like paint, they could’ve put fentanyl in there.”
The drug will be sent to the state crime lab for official testing. The powder form of methamphetamine in the box was a concentrated form that would need to go through more processing before it was sold for use, Luke said.
“So, he (Munoz) wasn’t selling it on the street around here,” Luke noted.
Turk said authorities searched in the house and shed for the tools and materials that would be needed to make the concentrated powder a marketable product, but they didn’t find it.
“So, there’s a missing piece to the puzzle somewhere, but we got a lot of dope off the street,” he said.
Change to: Although his name was not on it, Munoz accepted the box from the delivery service. Homeland Security agents seized another similar box. Luke said Munoz is not a U.S. citizen, “but he is living here perfectly legally with a green card, which is a Resident Alien card.”
Lt. Luke estimated Munoz has lived in the Eatonton area for 30 or more years. In the past, Munoz owned and operated an auto body shop in downtown Eatonton, and then another one later in Monticello. He currently had one set up at his home on Shady Dale Road.
“The body shop was the perfect front for a methamphetamine operation,” Luke said. “Large quantities of chemicals are delivered there virtually unnoticed because body shops order a lot of the same chemicals for their work that also are precursors to making and cleansing methamphetamine in a laboratory.”
Mario Munoz, 56, was arrested July 30 and taken to Putnam County Sheriff’s Office jail where he is being held without bond on charges of Violation of Georgia Controlled Substance Act-possession, manufacturing, distribution, etc. trafficking methamphetamine, driving on wrong side of the road, expired vehicle tag or decal, open container in vehicle, and removing or affixing plate to conceal vehicle identification.
Other meth arrests on Shady Dale Road In unrelated cases a week earlier, Turk and Luke arrested two other men for selling methamphetamine. Ironically, these two men also lived on Shady Dale Road. Search warrants were served at both houses after supervised purchases of methamphetamine were made from each man.
Timothy Lee Parsons, 52, 140 Shady Dale Rd., was arrested around 1:30 a.m. July 24 on charges of possession of marijuana and sale of methamphetamine.
Luke said that when they went to serve the search warrants, Parsons was not home, but he showed up later. Parsons has a prior record of drug-related felony convictions, according to Luke.
Ronald Keith Bryant, 46, of 525 Shady Dale Rd., was arrested a few hours later and charged with sale of methamphetamine and trafficking in methamphetamine. Luke said they found six ounces of methamphetamine in his house as well as some money. In Georgia, possession of 28 grams or more of methamphetamine or any mixture of it results in a trafficking charge.
Both men are being held without bond. Luke emphasized that their activity and arrests were unrelated to Munoz.
“They just happened to all three live on Shady Dale Road, so it’s lights out on Shady Dale,” he said.
All of the cases were a joint investigation between the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, Luke said, noting he and Turk were both grateful for their assistance.
Anyone with information on any suspected illegal drug activity may call Luke at 706-4858557 or report online at putnamcountysheriff.org.
All tips will remain anonymous.