Dodge County sheriff’s deputies stopped a vehicle on the McRae Highway early Monday morning, March 21, which rendered a drug arrest and the solving of a scheme to smuggle contraband into Telfair State Prison. The Telfair/Wheeler 911 Center put a lookout on a suspicious blue Chevrolet Impala that had rapidly left the area on a dirt road near the Telfair State Prison in Helena.
Dodge County deputies stopped a vehicle just south of Eastman that matched the description around 3:45 a.m. Deputies, while talking with the driver, observed suspected marijuana on the seat beside one of the occupants. Deputies arrested the occupant and detained the other three passengers and began interviewing the occupants about what had transpired on the dirt road in Helena.
Further investigation revealed that one of the occupants, Justin Lance McHone (age 22) of Columbus, got out of the vehicle with a fire extinguisher on the dirt road and walked through the woods to the prison. McHone did not return to the car with the fire extinguisher. The information was turned over to the Telfair County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Department of Corrections (DOC).
Telfair County Law Enforcement officials later located the fire extinguisher near the ongoing construction site at Telfair State Prison. Officials discovered a large quantity of marijuana and cell phones inside the fire extinguisher. The investigation revealed that the fire extinguisher was to be exchanged for an extinguisher on a bull dozer from the construction site and smuggled back inside the prison.
McHone, a parolee, was arrested by Dodge County deputies and charged with possession of marijuana in Dodge County. McHone is also facing charges in Telfair County as a result of the investigation. The other occupants of the vehicle, also from Columbus, were detained and later released by law enforcement officials without being charged.
Dodge County deputies arrested Benji Jim Smith (age 33), of Eastman, and have charged him with theft by taking. Smith allegedly stole a cell phone from a residence on Shady Oaks Road.
Sheriff’s investigators have arrested Bradley Simmons (age 30), of Eastman. Simmons is charged with theft by taking in connection with theft of some televisions.
I sometimes wonder as I read some news articles how do crooks come up with their scheming ideas. We need them to scheme in a positive way to come up with a cure for cancer or some of the other life threatening illnesses that people face on a daily basis. They have brains but uses them to do the wrong things in life.
Marijauna has been used after one has been diagnosed with cancer to give the suffer some relief from pain,increase their appetite or give them relief from nausea and vomiting which might be caused from chemotherapy or radiation treatments. So with all this being said my comment was taken way out of line and as a healthcare proffessional I donot like to see others mislead.
The folks in this article had a scheme to use the fire extinguisher (only what you see in the movies).