By Joe Johnson
An Athens street gang member was recently arrested in connection with a murder warrant out of California.
According to Athens-Clarke County Police Public Information Officer Lt. Shaun Barnett, officers responded Saturday to a home on Buckingham Terrace to investigate a tip that someone was selling drugs there.
No arrests were made in connection with the tip, Barnett said, but while identifying people who were present at the scene, officers learned that one of them was 21-year-old Richard Charles Jones of Live Oaks Drive, who was wanted for murder in Los Angeles.
Jones, who police previously identified as being a member of the NBA (Never Broke Again) street gang, was currently on probation for his conviction last year in Clarke County Superior Court on a charge of possession with intent to distribute marijuana. He had also been facing a charge of possession of a controlled substance, which was dismissed as part of a plea agreement with the Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.
Information about the murder in California was not immediately available on Monday.
Jones was being detained at the Athens-Clarke County Jail, pending his extradition to Los Angeles.