Police Seize Meth, Guns, Cash at Hickory Flat Home

Four people have been charged with possession of firearms and methamphetamine following a raid at a Canton home conducted by a multi-agency task force.

Officers early Friday morning arrested Canton residents James Madison Flood III, 28 and Manual Jose Arce, 25, Daniel Badger Franklin, 46, of Mineral Springs, North Carolina and Colleen Lucille Pelz, 38, of Mill Springs North Carolina, the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Flood has been charged with trafficking meth, Arce faces possesion of firearms while in commission of certain crimes and trafficking meth charges; and both Franklin and Pelz have each been charged with possession of meth and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

At around 4 a.m. Friday, Aug. 15, agents with the Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad, or CMANS, deputies with the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office and members of Cherokee Multi-Agency SWAT Team all executed a search warrant of a home at 6652 Vaughn Road in Hickory Flat.

CMANS agents over a two month period had been conducting an investigation into Flood’s activities, sheriff’s office spokesperson Lt. Jay Baker said.

On Aug. 14, CMANS Commander Phil Price was contacted by agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who had been supporting the Taliaferro County Sheriff’s Office in a multi-agency investigation which pointed to Flood as a source of methamphetamine in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, Baker stated.

Taliaferro deputies supplied the information to CMANS agents, and those agents established surveillance at the Vaughn Road home and simultaneously prepared a search warrant for the home.

With the help of the Taliaferro deputies, the search warrant was executed and “agents noted heavy security around the house, including several security cameras and a make-shift electrified fence,“ according to Baker.

“When officers made entry into the home, all the defendants were awake and moving around the residence, and at least one suspect attempted to flee,“ he added.

Agents recovered $7,874 in cash, four firearms and 14 ounces of meth valued at $21,000. Agents also recovered a small amount of marijuana and a small amount of an unknown substance that will be identified by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Lab.

All four defendants were transported to the Cherokee Adult Detention Center in Canton. Flood and Arce remain in custody with no bond. Franklin remains in custody with a $33,400 bond and Pelz remains in custody with a $22,400 bond.

The Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad is a joint task force working in Cherokee County to investigate drug related violations.

Participating agencies include the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office, Canton Police Department, Woodstock Police Department, Holly Springs Police Department, Ball Ground Police Department, Cherokee County Marshal’s Office, the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia State Patrol.

Citizens may call in tips anonymously to (770) 345-7920 or may speak to an agent by calling (678) 493-7625.

(Photo: from left to right, Manual Jose Arce, James Madison Flood III, Colleen Lucille Pelz and Daniel Badger Franklin. Credit: Cherokee Sheriff’s Office)