VALDOSTA — What started as a domestic violence investigation in January turned into a week-long drug operation against gang members with four arrests in Lowndes County, the sheriff’s office said Monday.

The wider probe involved the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI Gang Task Force, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

A person reported being beaten and choked in Lowndes County by a member of the Ghost Face Gangsters, a gang embedded in the Georgia prison system, according to the sheriff’s office. 

The Georgia gang formed in 1998 as an offshoot of the original California Ghost Face Gangsters and some of its members are considered white supremacists, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Investigators found Justin Lowe, 38, of Valdosta and Jeremy Terry, 39, of Homerville at a Sandpiper Drive address in the Clyattville area, the statement said. A revolver was found hidden in the walls of the home.

“The investigation of the two revealed that gang members were actively involved in methamphetamine distribution and the introduction of contraband into the Georgia prison system on behalf of the gang,” the sheriff’s office said.

Investigators determined that two other people were the sources of the methamphetamine, originating out of Colquitt County, according to the statement.

A search warrant was served at a Pine Mill Drive home in south Lowndes County, yielding narcotics, firearms evidence, a suspected incendiary grenade, blood evidence suspected to be from the reported assault and evidence related to suspected fraud, the sheriff’s office said. 

Another search on Main Street in the Clyattville area led to the seizure of methamphetamine and currency related to the sale of the drug and further established the Ghost Face connection to the area, according to the sheriff’s statement.

Lowndes investigators, working with investigators in Colquitt County, learned that one suspect was wanted by Alabama law enforcement for an aggravated assault-related charge, stemming from a shooting.

Subsequent searches of residences in Colquitt County allowed investigators to seize approximately six kilograms of methamphetamine.

According to the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, the charges in the case so far include:

– Justin Lee Lowe: Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

– Tia Marie Folsom: Traffic in methamphetamine, possession of a firearm/knife during the commission of a crime and tampering with evidence.

– Gary Kyle Turner: Traffic in methamphetamine, Violation of Georgia Controlled Substance Act – use of communication facility and possession of a firearm/knife during the commission of a crime.

– Jeremy Ray Terry: VGCSA possession of a Schedule II drug and tampering with evidence.

Turner and Terry were arrested Jan. 28, Folsom on Jan. 29 and Lowe on Jan. 26, booking reports show.

More arrests are expected, the sheriff’s office said.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.