Operation focused on reducing violent crime and illicit drug activities in historic Savannah neighborhood
SAVANNAH, GA - With the final sentences now pronounced, the initial operation to help rid a historic neighborhood of violent crime and drug activity has reached a successful conclusion as cleanup activity in the community continues.
All 33 defendants charged in the sweep of Savannah’s Cuyler-Brownsville neighborhood have received sentences ranging from three years to nearly 17 years in federal prison, without possibility of parole, said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. Every defendant arrested in the multi-agency investigation pled guilty.
The investigation began in 2017 when federal, state and local law enforcement agencies responded to complaints from residents of the historic neighborhood about frequent gunfire, violent crime and drug sales and use in their community near downtown Savannah. Through extensive surveillance and undercover purchases of drugs and firearms, law enforcement agencies built a case that resulted in raids and arrests leading to indictments for drug distribution, robbery and illegal firearms possession. Officers seized dozens of firearms, body armor and quantities of cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, oxycodone, MDMA (ecstasy) and marijuana.
Notable sentences in the case include:
Leonard Washington, a/k/a “Guzzi," 37, 203 months in prison;
Deandre Davis, 31, 188 months;
Tyrone Williams, a/k/a “T Y," 42, 160 months;
Frederick Brown, a/k/a “Freddie B," 36, 151 months;
Trishon Collins, 23,130 months;
Deonta Young, a/k/a “Fluid," “Flow," “Lil D," or “D," 27, 120 months;
Joseph Price, age 32, 105 months; and,
Dennis Grubbs, a/k/a “Lil Red," age 33, 84 months.
In addition, each of the defendants will face periods of supervised release after completion of their prison sentences.
“These sentences bring a successful closure to the first phase of a significant operation aimed at eradicating violent crime in a community whose law-abiding residents deserve to live without fear," said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. “But completion of this operation doesn’t mean our law enforcement agencies and prosecutors are taking a holiday; it means we’re just getting started. We will continue to find, arrest, prosecute and remove violent criminals from all of our communities until no one lives in fear."
“This case is the product of a concerted collaborative effort on the part of ATF and its local partners to target, investigate, and eliminate the perpetrators of violent crime," said Beau Kolodka, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Division of the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The operation was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and the Savannah Police Department, with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service, the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team (CNT) and the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Greg Gilluly, Tania Groover and Matthew Josephson prosecuted the cases for the United States.
This investigation took place under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that has been successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
