More arrests announced
Published 12:00 am Friday, November 19, 2010
By John Howell and David Howell
Two more Panola County people have been identified by the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics as among those arrested in a drug ring with connections across Mississippi to Texas and Mexico.
Shantana Joiner, age 32, 688 Lawrence Brothers Road, Batesville, and Bobby Joe Eggleston, age 51, 5903 Eureka Road, Courtland, have been charged for their roles with what the MBN announcement described as “a major cocaine and marijuana trafficking operation.”
Lonzo Lezell Griffin of Courtland and Cypress, TX and Clemeko Dewayne Starks of Sardis were earlier identified by the MBN as having been arrested. Joiner and Eggleston join a growing list of defendants arrested as a result of an investigation that began over a year ago.
The drug ring was “led by Lonzo Griffin and Michael Allen,” according to an affidavit filed in U. S. District Court in Aberdeen by MBN agent Billy Baker. “Griffin, Allen and their associates operating primarily in Batesville, West Point, Tupelo, Coffeeville and other cities within Mississippi,” according to the MBN affidavit. “Griffin obtains the cocaine and marijuana in Texas, reportedly from a Mexican source, and is responsible for trafficking the cocaine and marijuana into Mississippi,” the document alleges.
“Through the investigation, agents have learned that Griffin organized and leads the organization’s cocaine, marijuana and money laundering activities,” the affidavit alleges.
More than two dozen additional arrests were made in different locations across Mississippi. Charges range from simple possession to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana to a felon possessing a firearm, as well as federal charges, according to a press release from the Mississippi Department of Safety.
The arrests come after the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the United State Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) “have been investigating a large-scale cocaine and marijuana distribution organization led by Griffin and Allen,” according to the Nov. 12 affidavit filed in federal court.