Local & State Headlines

Feds look to seize houses in drug case

• Authorities attempt to take houses they contend were used in a two-state drug operation.

J.D. Sumner

These properties were listed in a federal complaint for forfeiture filed in U.S. District Court: 159 Bright Water Dr., Leesburg 180 Fowler Dr., Leesburg 412 Martindale Drive, Leesburg 5226 Florida Short Route Road, Dawson 428 Cinderella Lane, Dawson

ALBANY — Federal prosecutors are seeking to seize at least five Lee and Terrell County properties believed to have been involved in a multi-state, multi-million dollar drug operation, court records show.

Filed Oct. 10 in U.S. District Court in Albany, Donald Johstono of the U.S. Attorney’s Office has filed a complaint for forfeiture. The U.S. government is attemoting to seize five properties in Lee and Terrell County that authorities believe were used in a marijuana-growing operation.

According to court documents, the civil claim is based on the June investigation conducted by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office that revealed indoor marijuana growing facilities at two Lee County homes. After the initial investigation, Lee deputies and agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) served additional search warrants at two homes in Terrell County.

Under the law, the government can seize a property if it proves the property was used to facilitate drug-related operations.

The documents point to Frank Spring, who was arrested early on in the investigation. Lee County investigators contend he was the mastermind behind the grow operation.

According to court records, Spring was arrested on June 30 and charged with manufacturing marijuana. During the booking process, Spring reportedly told authorities that he was unemployed, but jail conversations between Spring and outside parties indicated that he had accumulated a substantial cash holding.

Federal agents contend that Spring, who had not reported any income to the Social Security Administration for the past several years, was earning hundreds of thousands of dollars from selling marijuana.

Criminal charges have been brought against at least 14 people in connection with the $10 million operation that investigators believe spanned grow houses in Leesburg, Dawson, Atlanta, Tallahassee and Panama City, Fla..

According to court records, the owners of the properties listed in the documents have 30 days to answer the claim if they choose to fight it in court.

Two of the property owners are listed as Bush-Bacon Lloyd Developers LLC, one as Stephen G. Bacon Jr., one as Michael and Carol Suber and the last as Charles R. Payne.

According to investigators, Suber was the last “loose end” that needed to be tied in the investigation. On Aug.18, Suber was arrested by police in Destin, Fla. Two weeks earlier, state and federal agents raided his Panama City home and found a weapons cache of at least 18 guns.

On the criminal end of the local investigation, Col. Duane Sapp of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said law enforcement officers are basically finished with the brunt of the investigation and that they’re just waiting for a grand jury to hand down indictments.

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