COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Police said they made a significant gang bust across Cobb and Clayton counties Friday.
Channel 2 Cobb County bureau reporter Chris Jose learned 30 suspected gang members were indicted on 169 felonies. Jose confirmed several people had been arrested and learned some were already in jail.
According to Clayton County police, 20 arrest warrants were served at six locations across both counties early Friday morning.
"The amazing collaboration among several different law enforcement agencies and jurisdictions to bring these fugitives to justice is what law enforcement officials dedicate their lives toward. This is a win for everyone," a news release from police stated about the bust.
Jose learned 13 of the suspects indicted were already in jail for previous charges.
Among the people indicted is a man whom Channel 2 Action News had previously covered in connection with a 2018 homicide in Marietta.
"They’re dangerous, not because of what they’ve done one time, but what they continue to do. They’re repeat offenders," Chief Mike Register said.
Clara George showed Jose how the SWAT team got into her home. She said police rammed her door down and busted open her son’s bedroom window.
"They went into his room and they threw him to the kitchen floor," George said.
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George's son is 19-year-old Randy Jones. The state indicted the accused gang member for drugs and racketeering.
"He’s not a gang member," George said.
The mother began to cry when Jose told her about the indictment.
"I can’t see my son being a gang member. Ain’t nothing going to make me believe that. Nothing," George said.
According to District Attorney Vic Reynolds, the men indicted are in a gang. Reynolds said the indictment is a message to other members.
"In this county, if you commit a gang-motivated crime, you will be arrested, you will be indicted and you will be prosecuted in the court of law," Reynolds said.
"The jail is like a little city," said Deputy Chief Milton Beck, of the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office.
He’s one of the people who oversees the jail and he’s quite familiar with those indicted.
"Isolation, administrative segregation or disciplinary segregation," Beck said.
Those are just some of the disciplinary options if accused gang members are caught plotting crimes inside and outside the jail.
Beck said deputies searched 13 jail cells and found paperwork and credible evidence that linked the inmates to the gangs.