Crime & Safety

Two Men Arrested in Drug Sting

Officials were led to two men after a third suspect allegedly sold marijuana to an undercover MCS agent at apartment complexes on Akers Mill Road in Smyrna-Vinings and Terrell Mill Road in East Cobb.

An undercover Marietta-Cobb-Smyrna narcotics operation led authorities to a Terrell Mill Road apartment complex, where a man was allegedly found with a trash bag containing more than 274 grams of marijuana and 10.3 grams of cocaine.

Two people, Damien Jovonn Bell of East Cobb and Daronn Gilmore of Acworth, were arrested Thursday on various drug-related charges. A warrant is still active for a third man, identified as David G. Gilmore of East Cobb.

Daronn and David G. Gilmore are brothers, said Nancy Bodiford, a spokeswoman with the Cobb County Sheriff's Office.

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According to Cobb County criminal warrants, agents were led to Bell and Daronn Gilmore after David G. Gilmore allegedly sold marijuana to an undercover MCS agent on two separate occasions. The first exchange was about 6:45 p.m. April 3 at the Terrell Mill Village Shopping Center and the second one was around 7:45 p.m. April 11 at The Columns at Akers Mill in the Smyrna-Vinings area.

In the first case, David G. Gilmore allegedly sold 1.3 grams of marijuana to the agent. The second time, the agent allegedly bought 4.8 grams of marijuana and 1 gram of cocaine from him.

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On April 18, David G. Gilmore and the agent exchanged numerous phone calls to discuss the sale of $40 of marijuana, according to the warrant for his arrest.

"I arrived in (an) area of Terrell Mill Road and contacted accused," the agent wrote in the warrant. "Accused told me to meet at the LA Fitness off Terrell Mill Road and that 'his boy,' later identified as Damien Bell, would be bringing me the marijuana soon."

When Bell arrived about 5:45 p.m. April 18 in the same vehicle that David G. Gilmore described over the phone, agents stopped him in the LA Fitness parking lot. Inside the vehicle, they found approximately 8.7 grams of marijuana.

Three hours later, during a surveillance of Bell's unit at the Barrington Mill Apartments, Daronn Gilmore arrived. According to his warrant, he entered the residence and exited a couple of minutes later with a "very bulky" black trash bag.

"It was believed accused was attempting to remove evidence from the target location," the agent wrote in the warrant. "Accused drove away from the target location and was subsequently stopped by uniformed MCS agents."

During the stop, agents found 274.8 grams of marijuana and 10.3 grams of cocaine inside the trash bag. The marijuana was separated into eight separate plastic bags and packaged for sale.

Agents found 31 additional grams of marijuana in Bell's bedroom after they executed a search warrant on his apartment.

"The marijuana was separated into six separate plastic bags," the agent wrote in Bell's warrant. "In the bedroom closet MCS agents located two digital scales with marijuana residue."

Bell, 30, was taken to the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, where he remains without bond on two counts of purchase, possession, manufacture, distribution or sale of marijuana. He was just released from 22-day jail stint on March 29 on charges of theft by receiving stolen property and violation of probation.

Daronn Gilmore, 40, was released Friday on a $10,000 bond. He faces charges of cocaine possession and purchase, possession, manufacture, distribution or sale of marijuana.


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