A drone strapped with contraband headed to Smith State Prison in Glennville crashed into a home this week.
TheGeorgiaVirtue filed an Open Records Request with the Glennville Police Department, seeking documents related to the incident. Those documents revealed that a patrol officer working responded to the scene following a request from fire department personnel.
Lieutenant Boyd with the Glennville Police Department responded to South Herrington Street on March 25 in response to the request. The report states the incident occurred after 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday evening. When he arrived on scene, Boyd saw a home which he described as ‘visibly damaged by fire.’
From the report:
Lt. Boyd approached the scene and was shown a large object that was laying at the base of the house which appeared to have been the cause of the fire.
Upon closer inspection, Lt. Boyd found that the item appeared to be a drone (typically seen attempting to introduce contraband into Smith State Prison). Lt. Boyd used his flashlight and looked closer to discover that there was loose tobacco, marijuana, and a cell phone that were sitting next to the drone which confirmed the thought that the drone was attempting to introduce contraband into Smith State Prison. It appeared that it must have come from south east of the house near the auburn road area of Tattnall County.
Lt. Boyd contacted the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) over the investigators of the Georgia Department of Corrections. The SAC informed Lt. Boyd that she would have an investigator come to the scene and collect all of the evidence to attempt to get any information from it that may identify the person(s) that were flying the drone.
Approximately an hour later, Special Agent Octavius Merricks arrived on scene. Agent Merricks collected all of the evidence and secured it in his state vehicle.
The case was turned over to the Department of Corrections Investigations team.
Unless an arrest is made in connection with this incident, the homeowner will have no recourse for repair or restitution. The report from Glennville PD, however, will assist with a possible homeowner’s insurance claim.
As of publishing, no arrests had been made.
Despite the Georgia Department of Corrections’ going struggle to secure its facilities, the state agency is largely immune from any civil suits brought forth by Georgians who are adversely impacted by the state prison system.
