Convoy of Care – South Georgia Tornado Relief
Featured, News February 7, 2017
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
News Release
Contact: Natalie Ammons
For Immediate Release
February 6, 2017
Convoy of Care – South Georgia Tornado Relief
Atlanta, Georgia – The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is once again partnering with state law enforcement agencies, Channel 2 WSB-TV, the Georgia Motor Trucking Association, the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA) and Caring for Others, Inc., to help raise funds for South Georgia residents who survived the historic tornado outbreak last month.
“The communities in South Georgia need money to be able to fund specific needs of each individual resident, whether it’s to cut down trees or to restore homes,” said Tim McVay, WSB-TV Vice President and General Manager. “That’s why we are urging our viewers to make cash donations now.”
The Convoy of Care will take a load of supplies to South Georgia on Sunday, February 12th. Mt Zion Baptist Church in Albany will be accepting the donations and distributing supplies on site. Volunteers from Caring for Others and the law firm Stewart, Seay and Felton will load up the tractor trailer truck donated by Holland, Inc. which was part of the first Convoy of Care that saw five tractor trailer trucks go to flood ravaged Baton Rouge, Louisiana in August last year.
Law enforcement organizations including the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association, along with state agencies; Georgia State Board of Pardons & Paroles, Georgia State Patrol, and Georgia Bureau of Investigation, have pledged to use their network to raise the awareness of the Convoy of Care online fundraising effort.
“We’re all One Georgia, and we want to continue to demonstrate how law enforcement serves the very communities we are sworn to protect,” said Clarence
Cox, National Vice President of NOBLE.
Funds being collected through Caring for Others will be disbursed directly to Long Term Recovery Committees being established in the Berrien, Cook, Crisp, Dougherty, Thomas, Turner, Wilcox, and Worth counties in coordination with GEMA, Caring for Others is accepting online cash donations at http://caring4others.org – click on “South Georgia Disaster Relief” at the top of the page or checks may be mailed to Caring for Others, Inc., 3537 Browns Mill Road, SE, Atlanta, Georgia 30354. Please indicate that you are donating to South Georgia Tornado Relief.
“The men and women of the GBI are honored to partner with Channel 2 WSB and our law enforcement counterparts n raising money for the tornado victims in South Georgia. This money is desperately needed so that they can begin to rebuild their lives,” said GBI Director Vernon Keenan.
Seventeen Georgians were killed by tornadoes that blew through South Georgia in January and caused more than $100 million worth of damage. State Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens says much of the damage was to structures and properties that were uninsured.
Suspect Tried to Drown State Trooper Before Being Shot and Killed
News June 27, 2016
GAINESVILLE — Georgia State Patrol’s Operation Thunder was suspended over the weekend following a violent confrontation that ended when a suspect was shot to death and three troopers injured in Gainesville.
Rodrigo Guardiola, 36, of Gainesville was shot and killed after he fled a road check on Highway 53 designed to take impaired drivers off the highways. After a brief chase, Guardiola and his passenger Epitacio Gudino-Almazan, 31, also from the Gainesville area, exited a Ford Explorer and fled on foot.
A press release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation states, “As one of the pursuing troopers caught up to Guardiola at a run-off creek, a struggle ensued at which point Guardiola was fighting the trooper and attempting to submerge him underwater.The trooper that was submerged and beaten fired his Taser at Guardiola with no effective impact, at which point the trooper fired his pistol striking and killing Guardiola,” according to the release.
Gudino-Almazan was captured nearby about 45 minutes later and taken to the Hall County Jail.
GBI spokesman Scott Dutton said it was not known why Guardiola and Gudino-Almazan ran and that neither was wanted by authorities.
The troopers were taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening, and they have since been released.
Commercial Gambling Search Warrants across Georgia
Featured, News October 28, 2015
Commercial Gambling Search Warrants across Georgia
Macon, GA. – On Wednesday, October 28, 2015, the GBI’s Commercial Gambling Unit, along with local law enforcement agencies across the State, and in cooperation with the Georgia Lottery Corporation and the Georgia Department of Revenue executed sixteen (16) search warrants in Troup, Houston, Bibb, Chatham, Terrell, and Henry Counties for violations of Georgia’s commercial gambling laws.
Search warrants were served at fifteen (15) convenience stores and one (1) residence. While searching the locations, agents collected evidence related to crimes of commercial gambling and seized monetary assets gained from the illegal use of gaming machines.
All of the locations are currently licensed to operate Coin Operated Amusement Machines under the master license of Sudama Resorts, Inc. However, during the course of the investigation, agents discovered customers were receiving cash payouts for winning credits. In Georgia, credits may only be redeemed for lottery tickets and/or store merchandise.
Search warrants were executed at the following business locations:
- 6230 Zebulon Road, Macon
- 1477 Pio Nono Road, Macon
- 2017 Millerfield Road, Macon
- 2545 New Clinton Road, Macon
- 415 S. Greenwood Street, LaGrange
- 426 S. Greenwood Street, LaGrange
- 1312 Hamilton Road, LaGrange
- 801 D Whiteville Street, LaGrange
- 1602 W. Bay Street, Savannah
- 2203 Skidaway Road, Savannah
- 9137 Whitebluff Road, Savannah
- 1210 E. Derenne Ave., Savannah
- 508 Watson Blvd., Warner Robins
- 516 Feagin Mill Road, Warner Robins
- 8125 Albany Highway, Sasser
Sudama Resorts, Inc. is the master license holder for all of the stores where illegal cash payouts were received and search warrants were executed. Undercover operations revealed cash payouts were taking place at over 25% of locations statewide where Sudama Resorts, Inc. is contracted to place COAM machines.
Multiple arrests are pending.
In total, more than 75 Agents, Investigators and Police Officers launched the raids in a simultaneous and coordinated fashion.
Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney David Cooke is coordinating a press conference planned for later today. Please contact the Office of the District Attorney at 478-746-9441 for additional information.
Scam Alert – GBI’s Main Line (404-244-2600) Spoofed
News October 27, 2015
Decatur, GA – Please be advised that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s main line (404-244-2600) has been compromised as a result of telephone spoofing. This is a scam that the GBI has been dealing with for approximately one month. When a telephone number is spoofed, the Caller ID of the caller will appear to be coming from a valid number. In the cases specifically related to the GBI, the individual being called will see telephone number 404-244-2600.
In many of the phone calls, the caller has called home phones and cell phones stating that they are with the GBI collecting a debt with the IRS or collecting a debt for college and that there would be a warrant out for their arrest if they didn’t pay the fine.
The GBI does not contact individuals for debt collection. If you get a call from anyone claiming to represent the GBI in this manner, you are urged not to conduct any business over the phone if you did not initiate the call. Additionally, do not give credit card information out to someone who has called you.
The GBI is currently investigating this matter.