A major drug trafficking organization officers say distributed more than $3.5 million of methamphetamine in North Georgia over the past five months is being brought down.
Federal, state and local officers are serving 10 search warrants and 14 arrest warrants for members and suppliers of Larry “Lil Man” Fricks’ drug organization, according to the Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office (ARDEO).
“Over the course of a five-month investigation, the Banks and Jackson County sheriff’s offices, the Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office (ARDEO), along with the cooperation of the Piedmont Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s office and the FBI’s North Georgia Major Offender Task Force, used all available investigative techniques at its disposal to bring down a complex drug trafficking network operating in North Georgia,” according to a statement from ARDEO Special Agent in Charge Mitchell Posey.
“Multiple criminal charges will be brought against these persons under the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) statute,” the statement reads. “Fricks and his organization have been active in Banks, Hall, and Jackson County and surrounding communities for many years. This investigation indicates that the Fricks’ Drug Trafficking Organization is responsible in five short months for the distribution of more than 100 kilograms of methamphetamine with a street value of $3.5 million.”
All member agencies of ARDEO provided resources to the investigation and were assisted by sheriffs’ offices in Barrow and Hall counties, Commerce Police Department and the Georgia Department of Corrections.
Officials credit interagency cooperation and information sharing with the success of the investigation.
More information will be forthcoming.
The Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office is a multi-agency unit that consists of the following Sheriff’s Offices: White County, Lumpkin County, Towns County, Banks County, Jackson County, Habersham County, Stephens County, Rabun County, Franklin County the Cleveland Police Department, the Lavonia Police Department, and the Toccoa Police Department, along with the Georgia National Guard Counter Drug Task Force, the Department of Public Safety, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
