Prison inmates linked to the ongoing conspiracy case stemming from Smith State Prison in Glennville have been indicted on federal charges as well.
Two newly unsealed federal indictments released Wednesday name 23 defendants who allegedly participated in ‘widespread conspiracies’ to utilize drones to deliver methamphetamine, marijuana, and cell phones to prisons in Georgia. Among those named are inmates also named in a twisted web of corruption, violence, and a criminal enterprise that was operating out of one of Georgia’s most prisons.
The indictments USA v. Hall, et al. and USA v. Harris et al. were unsealed in federal court in the Southern District of Georgia. The primary charges in each indictment are conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute marijuana and methamphetamine.
Both indictments also mention that the government plans to seize through forfeiture a total of 10 drones and 21 firearms seized during the investigation.
From the press release from the U.S. Department of Justice:
Investigated under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces by agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Georgia Department of Corrections Criminal Investigations and Intelligence divisions, with assistance from multiple local law enforcement agencies, Operation Night Drop identified two networks of prison inmates and outside conspirators who used drones and other methods to deliver large quantities of drugs, cell phones and other contraband to Smith State Prison in Glennville, Ga., Telfair State Prison in McRae-Helena, Ga., and various other Georgia state prisons. The indictments allege the conspiracies began as early as 2019 and continued through July 2024.
In addition to the conspiracy charges, multiple defendants are charged with Unlawful Use of a Communication Facility, and the indictment provides detailed information revealing the use of cell phones to coordinate the sale of drugs and other contraband, direct activities of conspirators outside the prisons, and arrange deliveries of contraband to the prisons using drones. Text messages and Facebook Messenger exchanges between the defendants included aerial images of prisons, drug quantities and prices, and photos of drones, drugs, and cell phones, and of materials and equipment used for packaging contraband.
The 15 defendants charged with conspiracy in USA v. Hall, et al., are:
- Alan Hall, a/k/a “Strong,” a/k/a “Krook,” 44, currently incarcerated at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Ga;
- Deivon Waller, a/k/a “Hitman,” a/k/a “VP,” 33, currently incarcerated at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Ga.;
- Travious Bateman, a/k/a “Nut,” 39, of Covington, Ga. Bateman was in the continuous custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections until March 7, 2022;
- Asa Ward, a/k/a “Foolay,” 28, currently incarcerated at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Ga.;
- Devonn Collins, a/k/a “Vonn,” 28, of Locust Grove, Ga. Collins was in the continuous custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections until Feb. 12, 2019, and again from Sept. 5, 2019 to April 14, 2020;
- Torlandus Fuller, a/k/a “Mustafa$upa,” 33, of Lithonia, Ga. Fuller was in the continuous custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections until Oct. 1, 2021;
- Martin Holmes, a/k/a “The Mayor,” 33, currently incarcerated at Macon State Prison in Oglethorpe, Ga.;
- Raymond Razo, a/k/a “Flako,” 36, currently incarcerated at Telfair State Prison in McRae-Helena, Ga.;
- Anisha Usher, 38, of Covington, Ga.;
- Marquez Chandler, 25, of Conyers, Ga. Chandler was in the continuous custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections from Nov. 9, 2021 to June 2, 2023;
- Chad Henry, 26, of Conyers, Ga.;
- Katrina Hampton, 28, of Killeen, Texas;
- Jamar Hill, 37, of Tucker, Ga. Hill was in the continuous custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections until Feb. 3, 2020, and again from Dec. 15, 2020 to Jan. 6, 2022;
- Raane Onessimo, 29, of Powder Springs, Ga.; and,
- Donald Pate, 51, of Valdosta, Ga. Pate was in the continuous custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections from Jan. 3, 2019 to Jan. 6, 2021.
Seven of the eight defendants named in USA v. Harris, et al., are charged with conspiracy:
- Robert Harris, a/k/a “Messiah,” a/k/a “Dean,” 32, currently incarcerated at Macon State Prison in Oglethorpe, Ga.;
- Kelvin Rogers, a/k/a “Gangsta,” 38, currently incarcerated at Smith State Prison in Glennville, Ga.;
- Quinton Samples, a/k/a “JR,” 29, of Atlanta. Samples was in the continuous custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections until March 10, 2022;
- Thomas Cothran, a/k/a “Shoota,” a/k/a “Tee,” 37, currently incarcerated at Ware State Prison in Waycross, Ga.;
- Quintaveous Samples, a/k/a “Peewee,” 26, of Jonesboro, Ga.;
- Quinesha Oliver, 27, of Jonesboro, Ga.; and,
- Tristahn Ash, a/k/a “Mohawk,” 27, currently incarcerated at the Metro Reentry Facility in Atlanta. Ash had been in custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections prior to the start of indictment, was released on Aug. 5, 2020, and reentered Department of Corrections custody on May 11, 2023.
The eighth defendant, David Williams, 35, of Atlanta, is charged along with Ash with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm in furtherance of the drug trafficking crime.
Of the 23 defendants in the two indictments, six were not in Department of Corrections custody at any time during the conspiracies, and each of them is alleged to have been in contact with incarcerated co-defendants in furtherance of the conspiracy.
Ties to Smith State Prison
Until recently, the Georgia Department of Corrections has largely even allowed many of the co-conspirators in these indictments and many others at both the state and federal level, to reside alongside each other, essentially enabling the continued operation of these enterprises. The closeness of those relationships is seemingly cemented by the overlapping of names in the new federal indictments and ongoing state cases.
Smith State Prison has been a hotbed for issues for at least the past four years. A criminal enterprise operating within the facility along with GDC’s inability to secure the prison over all have resulted in the murders of at least three citizens, multiple aggravated assaults on the ‘outside,’ two federal indictments, the murder of a corrections officer inside the prison, and the murder of a contracted staff member with a firearm. The warden was also arrested by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in 2023, which prompted the search of his home, and countless inmates have died by violence while the state agency has proclaimed the facility is ‘safe and secure.’
Deivon Waller, aka ‘Hitman,’ is listed in the indictment in the Tattnall County case involving the defendants charged with the murder of Bobby Kicklighter. Waller, at one point, shared living quarters with Nathan Weekes, the inmate charged with orchestrating the botched murder for hire of a corrections officer that left Kicklighter dead. Waller was also allegedly romantically involved with a now-terminated Georgia Department of Corrections officer, Ireon Moore, who was arrested for attempting to enter Smith State Prison with $29,000 in cash.
He and Moore both have pending criminal charges stemming from that incident in Tattnall County.
Waller was transferred out of Smith State Prison after Moore’s arrest to the Special Management Unit in Jackson, Georgia. He was transferred there by the Georgia Department of Corrections alongside his alleged co-conspirator, Nathan Weekes.
Also named in the federal indictment was Martin Holmes. Holmes is also a familiar case to both the Kicklighter murder case in Tattnall County, as he is named in that indictment, and the indictment for those charged in the murder of former Smith State Prison Corrections Officer Jessica Gerling.
Holmes is now at Macon State Prison, but upon his transfer from Smith State Prison in 2021, was transferred to Valdosta State Prison.
Currently, the kingpin of the federal indictment – Alan Hall – is in the Special Management Unit alongside alleged kingpin of the conspiracy in the Tattnall County, Long County, and Wayne County cases – Nathan Weekes – and Deivon Waller.
Travious Bateman and Quinton Samples were housed at Smith State Prison but have since been released. Kelvin Rogers is currently at Smith State Prison.
“These indictments identify networks of individuals determined to introduce into prisons controlled substances and other contraband that compromise the safety and security of individuals who are held in those facilities and those employed there, and further endanger members of the outside public,” said U.S. Attorney Steinberg. “We’re grateful to the many federal, state and local law enforcement agencies whose cooperative work unraveled these criminal operations.”
