Crime & Safety

Inmate Leads Cops to Marijuana

Bartow County-Cartersville Drug Task Force agents say they found drugs, cash and firearms in the Cartersville home to which a jail escapee was tracked.

A man who allegedly escaped Monday from a jail work-release program in Augusta led local authorities to "a large quantity of marijuana, U.S. currency and firearms," according to Bartow County-Cartersville Drug Task Force officials.

Local agents—comprised of and officers and part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Safe Streets Task Force—and members of a U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force on Tuesday executed a search warrant at 4 Cedar Lane in Cartersville.

They arrested Charles Justin Moore, 24, who allegedly escaped the custody of the Richmond County Correctional Institute, and a second person in the home at the time.

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Augusta authorities say Moore about 8:45 a.m. Monday walked away from a cemetery where he had been working, undetected by guards, in an incident they believe involved a cell phone and an accomplice, The Augusta Chronicle reported. He is serving a 10-year sentence for theft by receiving stolen property and drug offenses, and likely now will be housed at a maximum-security prison in Jackson.

Mark Mayton, commander of the local DTF, said investigators received "creditable information" Moore was at the Cartersville home and upon his arrest, found marijuana. Agents secured a search warrant, and found more marijuana, cash they believe to be proceeds from drug sales, and firearms.   

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The other man present in the home, Thompson Collins Newkirk, 23, was arrested as a result. Authorities also expect more arrests in the near future as investigation continues.

Moore was charged with escape, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of firearm by convicted felon and possession of a firearm during a drug felony. Newkirk, of 4 Cedar Lane, Cartersville, was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm during a drug felony.


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