A Blackshear man is facing federal charges for his alleged participation in a drug trafficking ring in southeast Georgia.
Clark Bennett, 50, of Blackshear, was one of 14 people charged last week in connection with the case.
Bennett has an extensive criminal record and is currently in the Floyd County Prison. He is one of eight charged who are already in custody.
According to a federal indictment, the group began distributing methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl as far back as 2018 in Bacon, Brantley, Camden, Coffee, Glynn, Pierce and Ware Counties.
Bennett and the others are all charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute the drugs. They face sentences of 10 years in prison up to life, along with substantial fines and at least five years of supervised release after completing any prison term.
Bennett has an extensive criminal record dating back almost two decades and has been convicted previously for possession of methamphetamine, burglary and theft by taking.
“The use of contraband cell phones and other devices inside prisons for coordination of criminal activity outside prison walls is an increasing danger to our communities,” said David Estes, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
“Our law enforcement partners, including the Georgia Department of Corrections, did outstanding work in identifying and infiltrating this network to being an end to this illegal conspiracy.”
In addition to Bennett, the inmates charged in the indictment include Jonathan Alvin Pope, 38, of Calhoun State Prison; Christy Renee Pope, 42, of Pulaski State Prison; Jason Wildes, 40, of Ware County Detention Center and James Edward Lane, 55, of Dooly County Detention Center.
Also charged were three inmates at the Brantley County Detention Center including Kristina Ashley Montgomery, 37; Tony Marvin Jones, 63 and Michael Mancil, 45.
The other defendants include Richard Reginald Perkins Jr., 46; Joshua Lance Lee, 45 and Sara Elizabeth Laroche, 37, all of Nahunta; Jode Lee Weaver, 41 and Ashlee Pope, 32, both of Waycross and Lena Leigh Davis, 45, of Homeland.
The case was investigated by the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces operation, working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Savannah office; the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Georgia Department of Corrections and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office and other local sheriff’s offices.
Dave Williams of the Capitol Beat News Service contributed to this report.
