Prison for Ga. Firefighters Who Tipped Drug Dealers

Former Spalding County Fire Battalion Chief Dwayne Tyrone Coggins and former firefighter Michael Owens were sentenced to prison Wednesday for tipping off drug dealers to police activity around Griffin.

The men were able to warn the dealers because police regularly gathered at the Spalding fire department before serving arrest warrants, federal authorities said.

“The police thought there was no safer place to gather than a fire station,” Acting U.S. Attorney John A. Horn said.

A jury convicted the men in October.

Coggins had worked at the fire department since 1990. Owens had been a firefighter for approximately four years, federal authorities said.

In April and May 2014, Coggins and Owens warned drug dealers about police in the area, authorities said.

Police learned the men were tipping off drug traffickers when they heard wiretap conversations of dealers discussing the tips and how to dispose of the drugs before police arrived, officials said.

In one recorded call, “Owens cautioned the drug dealer that he should immediately remove the drugs out of his stash house before it was too late,” according to a prepared federal statement.

Coggins, 47, of Griffin, was sentenced to four years in federal prison, followed by one year of supervised release.

Owens, 37, of Griffin, was sentenced to two years, six months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release.

———

©2015 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, Ga.)

Visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, Ga.) at www.ajc.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC