ROSWELL, Ga. — A man using mail to smuggle drugs into Georgia’s prisons now faces multiple charges. Roswell Police uncovered the unique pot-to-prison pipeline, thanks to their proactive policing.

In July, officers were on the lookout for stolen cars and wanted suspects which led them to run a license plate of a car parked at the Comfort Inn at 1500 Market Boulevard. Officers learned that its owner, Stephen Mott, was wanted on an outstanding felony drug warrant out of Cobb County.

When Mott drove away, officers conducted a traffic stop and the 47-year-old was placed under arrest.

Roswell Police Officer Tim Lupo told WSB’s Veronica Waters that Mott’s car contained drug paraphernalia, including numerous syringes, scales, and drug testing kits, allowing them to obtain a search warrant for Mott’s hotel room. ”We noticed what appeared to be some sort of drug processing site,” Lupo says.

The stash investigators located had 8.5 pounds of synthetic cannabinoids, 1.57 ounces of methamphetamine, and 14.7 grams of heroin. The Roswell Police Department contacted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to process and dismantle the room’s contents, and the months-long probe began.

“He had been purchasing synthetic cannabinoids in a powdered form, converting that synthetic powder into a liquid form, and then soaking pieces of paper into that,” says Lupo. “There were clotheslines hung throughout the room to air-dry it.”

The drug-soaked paper was used for mundane-looking letters Mott mailed to about a dozen contacts serving time to consume.

”It was designed to look like the typical official correspondence of a legal or religious nature,” explains Lupo, “something that would not necessarily garner somebody else’s attention.”

Investigators say Mott is a known member of the “Ghostface Gangsters”, a violent white supremacist gang. He remains jailed in Fulton County on several possession, trafficking, and gang activity charges.

Lupo says this isn’t a unique drug smuggling method, but it is a new find for the Roswell Police Department.
“It certainly displays a level of ingenuity and creativity,” he says. “It’s unfortunate that this is how some choose to use their talents and abilities.”

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