Major bust tied to state prisoner from Fannin County
A lengthy drug investigation with its roots in Fannin County has resulted in four drug arrests in the Atlanta area, a meth lab being shut down, and the seizure of methamphetamine, cocaine, ecstasy pills and a firearm.
The arrests have been traced to a criminal drug trafficking organization (DTO) run by Kevin Lee Daniel Mashburn, 41, of Blue Ridge, who is an inmate in the Georgia Department of Corrections.
Arturo Perez-Huizache, 40, and Carla Michelle Abarca-Jiminex, 22, both of Guerrero, Mexico, were arrested early last week by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They were charged with Trafficking Methamphetamine following the execution of a search warrant in Norcross, according to a statement from GBI Special Agent in Charge Ken Howard.
On Wednesday and Thursday, September 3 and 4, the GBI Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office (ARDEO), the FBI Conasauga Safe Streets Task Force, and the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office shut down a drug lab and arrested Perez-Huizache and Abarca-Jiminez at a home on Colony Park Drive in Norcross.
Howard’s statement said the operation led to the seizure of approximately four kilograms of suspected methamphetamine, suspected cocaine, suspected ecstasy pills and a firearm. Agents and deputies also located a lab where methamphetamine oils were being converted into methamphetamine crystals and packaged for sale.
Howard said that over the last 12 months agents and investigators have arrested more than a dozen suspects trafficking methamphetamine for the Mashburn DTO, which has been responsible for flooding large amounts of meth up the I-515/575 corridor throughout Cherokee, Pickens, Gilmer, Fannin and Union counties. The arrests netted more than 35 kilograms of meth.
Mashburn was convicted in Fannin County in 2016 for Trafficking Methamphetamine.
According to Georgia Department of Corrections (GDOC) records, he began serving a 30 year sentence November 8, 2016. He had previously been imprisoned from October 2010 until July 2013, and July 2014 until December 2014. Convictions included numerous counts of Aggravated Assault and Sale/Distribution of Marijuana in Union County.
Also participating in the investigation besides the agencies involved in the arrests and search were the sheriff’s offices of Fannin, Gilmer, Union and Pickens counties, the Cherokee County Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad (CMANS), and the GDOC.