The Ludowici Police Department joined forces with the Long County Sheriff’s Office to nab a drug dealer Monday.
LCSO Narcotics Investigator Danny Dinkins said the agencies teamed up to coordinate an undercover controlled buy in Ludowici.
An unidentified undercover officer established contact with Eric Ryon Hartley of Odum at a residence on Way Street, which is in the city limits, Dinkins said. The undercover buyer then reportedly bought $80 worth of marijuana from Hartley and left.
The investigator said that after the drugs were purchased, he and officers from the LPD stopped Hartley, who was driving a 2001 Jeep Cherokee. After searching Hartley and the vehicle, they found more marijuana.
Dinkins said Hartley, 22, was charged with the illegal sale of marijuana, selling an illegal drug within 1,000 feet of a school and possession of an illegal drug with the intent to distribute — all felony charges.
Dinkins said the controlled buy between the two agencies went well and the departments will be working together more in the future.
LPD Chief Richard Robertson said, “I think us working together is a good thing, and people in the area need to know we are going to continue doing all we can to get rid of as much of the illegal drugs as we can in the city.”