WAYCROSS — Trooper Gentry Mattox of the Georgia State Patrol and Blackshear Police Investigator Jacob Royal recently received certificates of commendation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
It was for their work in helping break up an extensive drug trafficking operation spanning several south Georgia communities.
Mattox has served in law enforcement for over 28 years including stints with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office and the Waycross and Jekyll Island posts of the GSP as well as with the Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team (SCRT).
Royal is an investigator with the Blackshear Police Department.
Mattox and Royal assisted with “Operation Crippled Business” that led to the indictment of 37 people on federal drug trafficking charges. The charges stem from a wide ranging trafficking operation distributing cocaine, methamphetamine, oxycodone and marijuana.
The operation also resulted in the seizure of 21 illegally possessed firearms and more than $17,000 in cash.
“We are deeply thankful for the invaluable support of our state and local partners in Georgia,” said Paul Brown, FBI Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “The success of Operation Crippled Business wouldn’t have been possible without unwavering assistance of Mattox and Royal.
“We are excited to continue collaborating with them in our shared commitment to safeguarding our community from violent crime and drug trafficking.”
Operation Crippled Business was conducted as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods, a successful initiative that collaborates various levels of law enforcement to decrease violent crime and enhance community safety.
Additionally, the case was pursued under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), which focuses on identifying, disrupting, and dismantling the most significant criminal organizations posing a threat to the United States, employing a prosecutor- led, intelligencedriven, multi-agency strategy.
The final fugitive, Christopher “Chris Brock” Brockington, 44, of Douglas, was apprehended March 21.
An unsealed federal indictment was released January 30, 2025 alleging dozens of defendants, many of them in prison, participated in an extensive drug trafficking operation spanning several South Georgia communities.
The indictment in USA v. Brinson, et al., names 37 individuals in the Coffee, Atkinson, Ware, Lowndes and Bacon County areas as conspirators. They were being charged with Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and to Distribute Cocaine, Methamphetamine, Oxycodone and Marijuana, said Tara M. Lyons, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
Conviction on the charge carries a maximum penalty of up to life in prison for most defendants, along with substantial financial penalties and a period of supervised release upon completion of any prison term.
Those named in the indictment from Waycross include Ernest Goodman, 42, an inmate of the Ware County Jail; Darien Mc-Daniel, 35; and Adrian Munford, a/k/a “Jugg King,” 41. From Alma were Roger Jenkins, 27, a/k/a “Glee Jenkins,” a/k/a “WMG Glee” and Brian Wright, 48.
“The FBI and our law enforcement partners were able to achieve these arrests and seizures because all of us never stopped working together, combining our resources, and advocating for a safer place to live for everyone in this community,” said FBI Atlanta Assistant Special Agent in Charge Brian Ozden. “We will not rest until we bring back to our community a sense of security and law and order that is so greatly needed.”
Agencies conducting the investigation include the FBI, the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office Drug Unit, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Southeast Regional Drug Enforcement Office, the Georgia State Patrol, the Georgia Department of Community Supervision, the Douglas Police Department, the Bacon County Sheriff’s Office, the Atkinson County Sheriff’s Office, the Waycross Police Department, the Marion County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office, and the Jacksonville (Florida) County Sheriff’s Office. The case is being prosecuted for the United States by Southern District of Georgia Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bradley R. Thompson and Joshua K. Davis.
