Grand jury indicts Athens drug trafficker

Octavius Orlando Sarden

By Joe Johnson

A grand jury convened at the courthouse in downtown Athens has indicted a man who was allegedly dealing drugs only five months after being paroled from prison.

Octavius Sarden, 38, of Garnett Ridge Drive, was charged with trafficking methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute morphine, possession with intent to distribute the opioid medication buprenorphine, and making terroristic threats, according to the indictment filed Tuesday in Superior Court.

Sarden, who had been paroled in December 2024, was arrested last month after drug task force officers staking out the Bulldog Inn on Commerce Road saw him apparently distributing drugs.

After Sarden left the motel police conducted a traffic stop on the car he was in and they found drugs that included crystal meth, marijuana, fentanyl, and morphine pills. Drug paraphernalia located in the vehicle included glass pipes and a digital scale.

The indictment’s charge of making terroristic threats is because when police were making the traffic stop he allegedly threatened to harm another passenger if she didn’t hide drugs in her vagina.

Sarden is scheduled to be arranged on June 24.

Holds on his release have been lodged at the jail by officials for the state and in Banks County for parole and probation violations.