GETTING FIRED UP, 5A
Tensions rise as field narrows in presidential race
POPULAR CHOICE Four Gwinnett football grads heading to Georgia Tech • Sports, 3B
Gwinnett Daily Post THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2016
www.gwinnettdailypost.com
75 cents ©2016 SCNI
Vol. 46, No. 82
500 pounds of pot seized from U-Haul By Joshua Sharpe
Office, which announced the seizure Wednesday, the traffic stop came after a tip about a “suspiFive hundred pounds. A quarter cious” U-Haul on Tuesday. of a ton. About half the weight of Agents found the truck, driven some horses and grand pianos. by Mark Anthony Spaziano, 46, Almost the weight of a grown of Suwanee, near the intersection male grizzly bear. of Cedars Road and Ga. Highway Investigators with the Gwin316 in Lawrenceville around 1:30 nett Metro Task Force seized p.m., Sheriff’s Office spokesthat much marijuana, about $1.2 woman Deputy Shannon Volkomillion worth on the street, in a dav said. single traffic stop. According to They requested the assistance the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s of a Lawrenceville police cruiser. joshua.sharpe@gwinnettdailypost.com
Volkodav said in an emailed statement. The sheriff’s office didn’t release where the truck was believed to be headed with the load. A passenger, 48-year-old Sugar Hill resident John Anthony Edney, was arrested with the driver. Mark Anthony John Anthony Both are charged with trafficking Spaziano Edney in marijuana and were transported A K-9 detected something. to the Gwinnett jail without “Investigators searched the incident. vehicle, locating 427 packages of They remained held withmarijuana totaling 504.3 pounds,” out bond Wednesday, records
showed. The Gwinnett Metro Task Force is comprised of deputies from the Sheriff’s Office and officers from the Lilburn, Lawrenceville, Duluth and Suwanee police departments. It formed in 2012 to investigate drug and vice complaints in Lilburn, Lawrenceville, Duluth and Suwanee. The Gwinnett Metro Task Force can be contacted via the tip line at 770-670-5180 or by email at gmtaskforce@gmail.com.
PRISON CORRUPTION
Guilty plea entered in smuggling First plea in case with over 80 defendants From Staff Reports
Derrick Brown of Lanier High School gives an explanation of his reasoning for signing with Auburn’s football program during Wednesday’s National Signing Day event at the high school in Sugar Hill. (Photos: Kyle Hess)
Written in ink
Football seniors sign final college decisions
MORE INSIDE • Lanier senior Derrick Brown, the state’s No. 1 player, picks Auburn over Georgia............................ 1B • Nigel Warrior of Peachtree Ridge follows in his father’s footsteps, commits to Tennessee....................... 1B • Archer’s E.J. Price chooses USC over both Georgia, Auburn............................. 1B • Gwinnett’s football signings by college........................ 4B
Students, family and friends watch as the Lanier High School football players sign their national letters of intent on Wednesday at the school.
• Gwinnett’s football signings by high school.................. 5B
A College Park woman on Wednesday entered a guilty plea for her role in smuggling methamphetamine and marijuana into Phillips State Prison in Buford, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. Charonda Edwards, also known as John, 29, is the first defendant to plead guilty in a series of prison corruption cases that charged more than 80 other defendants. A sentencing has not yet been scheduled. As a Phillips kitchen employee, federal authorities said Edwards smuggled drugs into prison for inmates and conspired with inmates to possess with the intent to distribute controlled substances. “The security of our prisons depends on correctional employees to perform their jobs honestly and with integrity,” U.S. Attorney John Horn said in a press release. “The safety and effectiveness of the prison system is compromised when employees, like Edwards, conspire with inmates to bring contraband into institutions.” According to Horn, in 2014, Edwards conspired with inmates at Phillips to smuggle meth and marijuana into the prison kitchen where she worked. She then hid the drugs in the kitchen for inmates to retrieve and then sell to other prison inmates. The inmates placed orders and communicated with Edwards using contraband cellphones that had also been smuggled into the prison and paid bribes to her using prepaid debit cards. Edwards also shared with inmates when the prison would be on “lock down” or would be searched by guards. The drug conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million. The bribery charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Grease clog causes sewage Defense ‘guardedly optimistic’ spill in Peachtree Corners By Joshua Sharpe
joshua.sharpe @gwinnettdailypost.com
By Curt Yeomans
dents pouring grease into the county’s wastewater system. County officials said the spill happened at a More than 7,000 galmanhole, at 6701 Winterlons of wastewater sewage brook Court, at 10:18 a.m., spilled in Peachtree Corners and it caused about 7,106 on Wednesday, marking the gallons of wastewater to fifth time in a week-and-aspill into an unnamed tribuhalf that a sewage or waste- tary of Crooked Creek. water spill has occurred in Crews were able to stop the county. the overflow at 12:14 p.m., It was also the third time Gwinnett County Departin that time frame that a ment of Water Resources spill was caused by resispokeswoman Karen curt.yeomans @gwinnettdailypost.com
Shields said. She added that the crews raked the area around the manhole and spread lime to minimize the impact of the spill. The county also notified the Georgia Environmental Protection Division about the spill. Water Resources officials told the Daily Post last week that grease poured down sink drains by county See SEWAGE, Page 7A
LEILI MURDER TRIAL
44-year-old mother of three, arguing and fighting over LAWRENCEVILLE — their relationship, with tones Straightening his necktie both tired and infuriated, during a break in court depending on the day. Wednesday, Thomas Clegg “The theme is typical,” said he was “guardedly said Sgt. John Richter, who optimistic” about how his listened to numerous hours defense of Matthew Leili is of conversations and phone going. calls the husband recorded The state had just played between 2008 and 2011 several lengthy audio record- before the wife’s death in ings on the overhead speak- July 2011. ers while the detective who Clegg acknowledged charged Leili with murder some of the tapes could be was on the stand. They fea- problematic for the defense. tured Leili and wife Nique, a But he said he and prosecu-
tors disagree on what one can infer from listening. In one call from June 28 that year, Nique is angry with Matthew for putting their then-12-year-old daughter Amanda on the phone to advocate for a vacation. Amanda says: “We need to save this family.” The girl is crying. “Mommy’s tried very, very hard for a lot of years,” the mother tells the child,
See LEILI, Page 7A
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