Brunswick arrests aim to dismantle violent gangs

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Law enforcement officials in Brunswick and Glynn County said they put a dent into organized crime after a four year-year, multi-agency, operation uncovered a vast drug enterprise with possible ties to the national street gang known as the Bloods.

At least nine of 19 defendants who were arrested appeared before a federal magistrate in Brunswick Wednesday on indictments for conspiring to traffic crack cocaine among other illicit drugs.

Some are also facing gun related charges.

Their arrests come after several agencies, including the Glynn County Police Department and the FBI, zeroed in on the illegal activities of alleged members of the Bloods.

“The Bloods are one of the major gangs but they have what you call subsets and each one of those subsets can be classified as a different gang,” said Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering.

Doering said Glynn County has 19 validated gangs and around 164 gang members.

But not all of the suspects in the latest string of arrests are part of a gang.

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“We want to make certain that we can proactively go after not just gang members but anyone associated with them,” said Doering.

Doering said about four years ago, Glynn County started to see a spike in street shootings, nearly doubling from 2013 to 2014. Some were gang-related.

Last year, another 16 defendants were convicted on a slew of drug trafficking charges; many of them were also members of yet another national gang called the Gangster Disciples.

Doering believes they were able to prevent crimes from happening thanks to the local and federal operation but he said they’re nowhere near finished.

“The focus of this investigation is to go after those who have the highest propensity for violence whether you're a gang member or not,” said Doering.

Doering said more arrests are pending, including some suspects who will face local charges brought on by the district attorney’s office.

The 19 suspects, men and women ranging in age from 21 to 56, have only been accused at this point. They will all have their chance at the opportunity to stand trial.

Cox Media Group