Six people have been arrested and officials are searching for two others in connection with a methamphetamine distribution network that sold large amounts of the drugs in Northeast Georgia, North Carolina and Florida.
The Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office initiated the case, and an investigation by the North Georgia Major Offender Task Force revealed that Teofilo Santana-Medrano, 28, of Lawrenceville, was using a drug trafficking network to sell kilos of meth in the North Georgia mountains, as well as metro Atlanta, according to a news release from FBI Atlanta office.
The release said authorities were still searching for two suspects -- Javier Eras, 22, of Atlanta and Tim Barnes, 52, of Jasper.
Besides Santana-Medrano, the others arrested were Lesli Alvarado Arroyo, 27, of Lawrenceville; Mitchell Lingerfelt, 44, of Ball Ground; Michael Davis, 56, of Canton; Maria Maldonado, 37, of Atlanta and Salome Urieta-Jamies, 38, of Marietta. They have all been charged with federal complaints of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.
The arrests were made on Thursday when federal warrants were served in Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, Cherokee and Pickens counties. On Thursday, the task force with the assistance of the United States Attorney’s Office Northern District of Georgia, the GBI’s Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office, Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Department of Corrections, Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office, Gainesville Police Department, Zell Miller Task Force and Homeland Security executed 9-search warrants and 10 arrest warrants throughout Atlanta and North Georgia.
The FBI asks that anyone with information on the whereabouts of Eras or Barnes call the FBI Atlanta Field Office at 770-216-3000 of submit a tip online at www.tips.gbi.gov.
