NEWNAN, GA—Former Spalding County Fire Battalion Chief Dwayne Tyrone Coggins and former Firefighter Michael Owens have been sentenced for tipping off drug dealers to police activity in the Griffin, Ga., area.
Coggins, 47, of Griffin, Ga., was sentenced to four years in federal prison. Owens, 37, was sentenced to two years, six months in prison. Both men are from Griffin, Georgia.
Both were convicted in October 2014, after a jury trial.
Coggins was employed by the Spalding County Ga., Fire Department since 1990 and, most recently, served as a Battalion Chief. Owens had been employed by the Spalding County Ga., Fire Department as a firefighter for approximately four years.
“The police thought there was no safer place to gather than a fire station. Instead, Coggins and Owens reported what they saw and heard to drug dealers operating in the area without ever considering the safety of the officers who trusted them with sensitive information,” said Acting United States Attorney John A. Horn.
Adding “The Court’s sentences in this case demonstrate that there are real consequences that come from tipping off criminals to police activity.”
According to the evidence, this is what happened:
- Police regularly gathered at the Spalding County Fire Department before scheduled police activity such as serving arrest warrants.
- In April and May 2014, Coggins and Owens warned drug dealers about law enforcement activity in the area before it occurred because they had been told by the police about the investigation or had seen officers gathering near the fire station.
- Police were unaware that Coggins and Owens were tipping off drug traffickers until they heard the drug dealers talking about the tips on a wiretapped telephone.
- During a series of wiretapped calls, the drug dealers discussed the specific information provided by the firefighters as well as how they could dispose of the drugs before the police arrived.
- In one recorded call, Owens himself was intercepted asking whether the drug dealer had already cleaned out the drugs before police executed a search warrant.
- Owens cautioned the drug dealer that he should immediately remove the drugs out of his stash house before it was too late.
This case was investigated by the FBI.