Pound of meth seized; 4 arrested
DALTON, Ga. - Four men have been arrested after a bust netted more than a pound of methamphetamine, authorities say.
Ivan E. Gallegos-Vega, 22, and Javier Sanchez, 24, both of Mableton, Ga., Rigoberto Carreno, 20, of Cartersville, Ga., Guadalupe Villalobos, 27, of Marietta, Ga., and Jof Mableton, no age available, all are charged with trafficking methamphetamine, possession of meth with intent to distribute, and possession of meth, according to a news release from the Dalton Police Department.
They were arrested Oct. 5 after authorities seized about 1.02 pounds of meth during a bust, the release said.
The arrests came after a long-term joint investigation of drug trafficking between Atlanta and Dalton by Dalton police, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Tunnel Hill Police Department.
Man sentenced in reptiles case
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A Scottsboro, Ala., man has been sentenced for the illegal possession, transportation and sale of protected reptiles.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn in Birmingham on Tuesday sentenced 43-year-old David Langella to three years of probation for violating a federal law that prohibits the transportation and sale of wildlife taken in violation of state, federal or Indian tribal law.
Langella was accused of traveling to Arizona to capture reptiles, including Gila monsters and ridge-nosed rattlesnakes, and transporting some of the animals back to Alabama for his own collection. The ridge-nosed rattlesnake is the state reptile of Arizona.
A Gila monster is a large, slow-moving poisonous lizard that is native to the southwest United States and northwest Mexico.
Blackburn ordered Langella to spend the first four months of probation under home confinement.
Group urging water use cuts
GAINESVILLE, Ga. - A conservation group says metro Atlanta has made incremental progress in reducing water use since 2011, but could do more.
The Times of Gainesville reports that Atlanta-based Chattahoochee Riverkeeper released the findings as part of a 40-page update to its 2011 report, "Filling the Water Gap: Conservation Successes and Missed Opportunities in Metro Atlanta."
That report projected the region could save as much as 160 million gallons of water per day through certain conservation measures.
Though progress has been made, the group says Atlanta residents "can and should do more."