Marijuana plant found in Statham raid, 5 arrests made

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Friday, April 1. 2011

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Five drug-related arrests were made early this morning when approximately 40 police officers and Sheriff’s deputies raided three Statham homes, according to a Barrow County Sheriff’s Office release. Police reportedly confiscated quantities of marijuana, including a marijuana-plant, drug related objects and a firearm.

The residences included in the warrant search were 2353 Greeson Road, 537 Peters Street and 572 Peters Street. The Peters Street houses were raided simultaneously, the release states.

Police arrested Nicholas Eron Wiseman, 20, on charges of one-count manufacturing marijuana, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, possession of drug related objects and possession of less than one ounce of marijuana; Brian Lee Harvey, 53, on a charge of manufacturing marijuana; Rayan Hermand Williams, 22, on a charge of manufacturing marijuana; Guy Jamar Butler, 28, on a probation violation charge; William Demarcus Howard, 23, on a possession charge of less than one ounce of marijuana.

The warrants were a result of a six-month investigation by the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office, Winder Police Department and Statham Police Department.

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#1 anonie mouse on 04/01/11 at 02:52 PM [Reply]

40 cops and 6 months investigation to net less than an ounce of pot! Couldn't that money have been better spent elsewhere?

#2 Odins Eye on 04/01/11 at 03:09 PM [Reply]

Wow, 5 peoples lives will be ruined, all because they were growing a natural herb, that grows wild everywhere around the world.
The LEOs will steal anything of value that these folks own (cars, houses, electronics).
It is insane the FEAR that the public has over this herb.
They call it a "war on drugs". It really is a "war on people".

Free the weed and free your mind.
Hail Shiva.

#2.1 Anonymous on 04/02/11 at 07:33 AM [Reply]

Has to be a stoner!

#2.1.1 Freddy Sykes on 04/02/11 at 12:31 PM [Reply]

William F. Buckley supported the legalization of drugs. Was he a "stoner," too? It's funny, in a pathetic sort of way, that those with small minds cannot conceive of opposing points of view -- without resorting to the lowest form of argument.

#2.2 I take it, you get stoned as well on 04/02/11 at 07:37 AM [Reply]

If they want to make their living growing and selling "a natural herb" then they need to move to the Golden Triangle.

But as long as they reside in Georgia, where it is ILLEGAL, then they need to abide by the laws and should be arrested.

#2.3 I take it, you get stoned as well on 04/02/11 at 07:38 AM [Reply]

#2.4 Jus Sayin on 04/02/11 at 08:48 AM [Reply]

I'll bet you keep chickens in your back yard, don'tcha?

#2.5 hmmmmmmmmmmmmm on 04/02/11 at 10:42 AM [Reply]

why dont you grow some hemlock and chew on that. It is a natural herb that grows wild in other parts of the world.

there are 3 options:

1. obey the laws (or suffer the consequences)

2. vote for people who share your views and get the laws changed

3. move to a place where the laws are inline with your views

#2.6 The Man on 04/02/11 at 03:18 PM [Reply]

thank you, after reading your post and your rambling, we are all a little bit dumber now.
thank you Odins Eye, your house must be next.

#3 Pro Police on 04/02/11 at 01:07 PM [Reply]

I'm very pro police and pro drug suppression, but that seems like a lot of resources utilized for one marijuana plant and a baggie of weed, and it took three different addresses to find it. Given all the variables, this particular operation seems to be a failure...

#4 Michael McCarthy on 04/02/11 at 11:29 PM [Reply]

Time for the drug war to end. This is absurd! 40 police officers? How much did that cost?

#5 Terrible Job... on 04/03/11 at 12:19 AM [Reply]

Second class police force..6 Month investigation and all these bums found was a marijuana plant and a bag of weed? LOL. All the problems with child molestation, meth, domestic abuse etc. in Barrow County and this is is all the find? They should all be ashamed of themselves for even printing this failure of an investigation in the local paper. This is an embarrassment to law enforcement everywhere. These guys wont do a day of prison time for these minor crimes. Sickening and sad that precious resources are being wasted in such a way.

#6 Charlie on 04/03/11 at 07:24 AM [Reply]

As a Special Operations VETERAN of hundreds operations I have to agree that with 6 mos leading up to this OP and to come up with 1 plant and < 1 oz.... Sheriff Smith, this is the kind of errors that move the community AWAY from you and the BCSO. We expect better and ya'll need to deliver it....

Charlie

#6.1 Metro on 04/04/11 at 09:24 AM [Reply]

Hey Charlie, im a vet too...and i have my doubts about your 'special operations' credentials unless by 'special' you mean wearing a helmet and licking the windows inside the short bus.

#7 Anonymous on 04/03/11 at 01:28 PM [Reply]

What a waste of law enforcement time, manpower and money.

#8 Vet Too on 04/03/11 at 02:08 PM [Reply]

Charlie, why do you always start your rants with...As a veteran...or...I was a special operator. Makes me wonder what you really did. What they do not say is the warrants that were already on the table from the 6 month investigations. As a SPECIAL OPERATIONS VETERAN you should know this, or did your spec ops just have to do with kitchen raids?

#9 Barrow Citizen on 04/03/11 at 02:37 PM [Reply]

OK.

1. Marijuana use,sales,distribution,growing is ILLEGAL here. I understand the arguments, who supports it, that other places allow it, BUT HERE IT IS ILLEGAL AT THIS TIME, if you are so in favor of marijuana, then YOU need to work on getting the laws changed. Due to most marijuana users being "less motivated"(aka stoned) they dont ever seem to share this passion with their lawmakers,

2. It is ILLEGAL, so I support my local law enforcement to ENFORCE LAWS, and they probably dont see "picking and chosing" which laws as part of their duties. Thats why is called "Law Enforcement" not "some laws enforcement" (again lobby to change the laws you dont like).

3.As a Taxpaying Barrow Citizen, I do agree that 6 MONTHS OF TIME and 40 PAID officers worth of MANPOWER for such a small bust my not be from well executed policework, NOT the BEST USE of Taxpayer Dollars from a FINANCIAL point of view, But again, they are doing their jobs to enforce the law, marijuana is illegal. I hope that ALot on MAN HOURS were NOT Actually used as it seems to imply for this bust.

4. We need to Use our resources as wisely as possible.

#9.1 Charlie on 04/03/11 at 04:48 PM [Reply]

NO one is disputing legality!LOTS of things are illegal....For me it is the scale of the OP..1 plant and a baggie.. that's all with 6mos of work...

If ALL laws were enforced.. this would be a very unhappy place..... Yes in fact police officers can pick and choose , you ever been let go from a traffic stop with a warning?

This was POORLY planned And executed PERIOD, I'm glads no one was hurt, these kind of OPs are intense adn sometimes we do shoot one another

CHarlie

#9.1.1 Michael McCarthy on 04/03/11 at 10:44 PM [Reply]

Charlie, you are right. The war on drugs is usually more violent than the drug culture. Why pay for violence? I'd feel much more secure in my home knowing my neighbor was smoking pot in his house than knowing the police were coming in the middle of the night to that same house. The problem-solvers have become the problem.

#9.1.2 Barrow Citizen on 04/05/11 at 12:39 PM [Reply]

Yes, Charlie, Did you make to paragraph #3?, I did state that it appears to be alot of resources with little result. Now they (police) do need a formitatble force when doing a takedown of this sort - you have no idea of what you may face, BUT the 6 mos, intel for 1 bag of weed seems faulty. I understand your point.

NOTE: A warning DOES typically result in "Corrective Action" by the person stopped so IT IS a form of EFFECTIVE law enforcement, it is a tool to get an issue resolved at the lowest level of force needed and saves taxpayer funds too (paperwork time, court time, officer overtime for petty offences, so as a citizen I accept that some offences JUST need a warning and some require MORE.)

Maybe the Statham govt who kicks in funds to the Drug Task Force needed some local action for their satifaction? Maybe the Police were given bad intel? Maybe 3 days prior there was 50 pounds there, who knows?

#10 PLEASE on 04/04/11 at 08:28 AM [Reply]

Atleast we are not arguing about chickens anymore....

#11 Metro on 04/04/11 at 09:22 AM [Reply]

what a waste of money, resources and time.

vote these bums out.

#12 Need better on 04/05/11 at 07:01 AM [Reply]

Wow. What criminals. A plant. Barrow County is just on the ball! Not.

Um, there is a whole LOT of meth in Barrow County - how about we focus on that? Please??

What is the worst a stoner is going to do - steal some twinkies?? Give me a break. And my tax dollars are going to this??

I really would consider moving if the market didn't hoover so much right now. I am just not willing to take the loss on my house...

#13 Jim Beckemeyer on 04/05/11 at 09:36 AM [Reply]

The level of manpower might seem to be heavy, and the volume of drugs was small, however there was a firearm involved. Criminals are showing increased disregard for the lives of LEO's, as was experienced by two of Athens/Clarke's finest a week and a half ago.
Overwhelming force is the way to go! I don't care if there were double the number of officers used, as long as each of them went home safely.

#13.1 Michael McCarthy on 04/05/11 at 10:09 AM [Reply]

Yeah, they used overwhelming force against that 90 something year old woman they killed a couple of years ago in Atlanta after lying to get a warrant. No thank you. End the violence.

#13.1.1 Barrow Citizen on 04/05/11 at 12:51 PM [Reply]

The overwheling force on the raid Prevented the Violence, the Atlanta PD incident was a different matter entirely.

Although I AGREE the yield on this operation was VERY poor and appears to have been a waste of resouces, WE need to get ahead of certain crimes here NOW to prevent becoming a more infested dangerous violent area later.

When a drug user without funds (or owing someone for drugs, whatever) becomes bold enough to break in to your home one night, you might be less tolerant, I just want the LOWEST CRIME RATE Possible for BARROW County and IF those in Criminal Enterprises see Barrow as not the best place to come to, then so be it.

Criminals are bolder now, so it's not the raid force I have issue with, it's the intel prior to the raid, but LE is not a perfect science.

#13.1.1.1 Michael McCarthy on 04/05/11 at 03:01 PM [Reply]

No thank you. I'm armed. I'll take care of the burglar. But I'm worried about the misguided 40 armed men. Thanks but no thanks. With your philosophy you need to start picking up those folks spitting on the sidewalks before they do something more serious.

The issue in Atlanta is EXACTLY what the problem is. Too much possibility for error or someone getting shot over one marijuana plant. If you can't see this is ridiculous then you must be profiting from it. This is why most law enforcement support the ridiculous marijuana laws. Without them they'd have to get a real job, not on the taxpayers' dime.

#14 citizen on 04/05/11 at 12:48 PM [Reply]

If all of you who keep saying things about the Meth in Barrow County know so much about it, then why don't you give your information to Law Enforcement and help them stop it???? If you are chicken, then keep your mouth shut and don't critize what they are doing to stop the drugs that they can find.

#15 J_B_Moore on 04/05/11 at 01:43 PM [Reply]

Please find the facts and educate yourself a little before you make these uneducated statements. Sometimes you may have a dope case go for a year or more and you may hit the place and miss the dope by 10 minutes. Sometimes doors are barricaded and there is no secondary entry point and the dope gets flushed esecially in slab houses where you cant cut the drains. People who engage in these activities usually communicate in code and officers are constantly trying to decipher what is going on. People are ruthless the dope may have been in a kids bookbag, maybe the house couldnt be hit because the risk to bystanders. If any of you throwing your insults had any idea of the planning and the precautions that have to be made prior to a rip you would not be insulting you local law enforcement. In a bust the dope may be the main focus but it is not the first priority. Protect others lives the officers and secure and the get the dope. there is way to much constantly evolving to judge these officers. Now you may start insulting me.

#15.1 Right on on 04/05/11 at 05:20 PM [Reply]

J B, I may not alwys agree with you but on this you are right on!

#16 anonymous on 04/05/11 at 03:28 PM [Reply]

Anyone who knows anything about Statham knows that these places are well known areas where drugs are prevalently sold. Thank you to the officers who are working hard to clean up our town. It always saddens me to see the young children and teens who are affected by this. Keep up the good work!!!

#17 Just saying on 04/05/11 at 05:01 PM [Reply]

Jay walking is illegal and more dangerous then Marijuana how many stings do you see set up for that?

#18 Odins Eye on 04/06/11 at 07:43 AM [Reply]

Some Truth in the Fog of the "War on Drugs"

Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety.”The biggest and fastest-growing part of America’s drug problem is prescription drug abuse,” says Robert DuPont, a former White House drug czar and a former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “The statistics are unmistakable.”About 120,000 Americans a year go to the emergency room after overdosing on opioid painkillers, says Laxmaiah Manchikanti, chief executive officer and board chairman for the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians.More sales, more addicts Experts say it’s easy to see why so many Americans are abusing painkillers.

-The results of this synthetic drug explosion have been unfortunate. Today, drugs prescribed in hospitals constitute the number six cause of death among American adults. This exceeds deaths due to crack, handguns, and traffic accidents combined. Add to that figure the number of adult and child deaths attributable to over the counter and prescription drugs given outside of hospitals, and the figures are even worse.
--There has never, ever been an over dose of Cannabis sativa, it can't be done.

#19 Odins Eye on 04/06/11 at 08:42 AM [Reply]

More Truth;
Its not about protecting the community,
its not about the "War on Drugs"
---- Its about $$$$$.
----"Asset forfeiture"

Read the links and become aware.

http://reason.com/archives/2011/03/21/how-drug-cops-go-bad

http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php

Its about assualting the comunity and its citizens. So don't expect your local LEO to protect and serve.
He's to busy cashing it in.

"transcendence through consciousness expanding"
free the weed and free your mind.
That is, If you have the courage.

#20 Weetart on 04/07/11 at 07:39 PM [Reply]

I can't believe you guys fell for this April Fools joke. Come on, 6 months of work and they found ONE plant!
Barrow Co has to be ridden of this curse.
If you don't believe me, just read the editorial from last week. Barrow Co is Tiajuna of the East.

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Marijuana plant found in Statham raid, 5 arrests made

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