By Joe Johnson
Athens heroin trafficker Rodrick Taylor was sentenced to serve 24 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession with intent to distribute heroin and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
There is no parole in the federal penal system.
According to court documents, federal and local agents had identified 40-year-old Taylor as a heroin dealer in the Athens community during a wiretap investigation into an armed drug trafficking organization controlled by Rickshun Willingham in 2019. During their investigation, FBI agents learned that Taylor assisted Willingham in a robbery of two kilograms of heroin in an Athens parking lot.
When a search warrant was executed at Taylor’s home agents found a .40-caliber pistol, along with drug distribution items.
Because he had multiple prior felony convictions, Taylor was prohibited from possessing a firearm. FBI agents received information in Aug. 2020 that Taylor was selling heroin from his home and was bragging about having a new gun and posting a video of himself with a Glock 9mm pistol at a shooting range on his social media account. A search warrant was subsequently executed at Taylor’s home and agents found the gun, 105 grams of heroin as well as evidence that he had flushed additional heroin down the toilet before agents made entry into his home.
The case was investigated by the FBI Middle Georgia Safe Streets Gang Task Force, the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Good. Good riddance.