Information generated by the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office and the Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office (ARDEO) has dismantled a drug trafficking organization operating in north Georgia.
Local law enforcement officers developed information that Ray Monroe Moore, 54, of 77 Old Jerusalem Road, Mineral Bluff, traveled between Fannin County and the Bartow County/Cartersville area to pick up drugs and bring them back to Fannin County to be sold.
Agents of the ARDEO, an arm of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, shared the information with the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office and Bartow/Cartersville Drug Task Force, and a multiagency investigation began.
Monday, Dec. 4, just before 3 p.m., law enforcement officers from the four agencies converged to perform a traffic stop on Moore just outside Ellijay on Highway 515.
During a search of his vehicle, officers seized 180 grams, or 6.34 ounces of suspected methamphetamine and four handguns, according to warrants sworn out against Moore.
Moore is charged with two felonies, trafficking in methamphetamine or amphetamine and possession of firearm/knife during commission of a crime. He was booked into the Gilmer County jail with bond to be set by a superior court judge. He remained jailed Friday.
Meanwhile, Bartow/Cartersville officers maintained surveillance in the area where Moore was accused of picking up the drugs. When a search warrant was executed, officers seized approximately three quarters of a kilo of suspected methamphetamine, approximately 1 pound of suspected marijuana and one-half ounce of suspected cocaine. Five suspects were arrested at the Bartow County location.
A spokesman for the ARDEO said, “Just because a suspect is going to another county does not mean we will not share that information and follow up on the results.”
Anyone with information regarding drug activity is encouraged to call the GBI ARDEO at 706-348-7410. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling 1-800-597-8477, oratgbi.georgia. go v/submit-tips-online.