Georgia Prison Warden Fired, Seven Guards Arrested in Prisoner’s Massive Drug Operation
The Georgia Department of Corrections (DOC) took the extraordinary step of firing a prison warden on July 1, 2024. Warden Ralph Shropshire was walked off the job after just 16 months at Valdosta State Prison (VSP). During that time, five of his guards were among seven employed by DOC or a local county who were arrested in “Operation Skyhawk”—a spectacular FBI sting that shut down a multi-state drug trafficking operation and netted 150 arrests, along with 87 drones, 273 illegal cellphones and $7 million in drugs.
Shropshire was let go for “unprofessional conduct,” DOC said. However, no charges were filed against the former warden, who was an 18-year veteran employee. Also during his short tenure, five prisoners died by suicide or homicide at the lockup. Shropshire was brought on while VSP was still reeling from the sentencing of four guards for beating a handcuffed prisoner and then lying about it in an attempted coverup; each of them got four years in federal prison in September 2022, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Apr. 2023, p.57.]
The VSP guards named after the recent bust included LaShonda Ty’Asia Mannings. She was booked into the Lowndes County Jail on February 7, 2024, for allegedly having sex with VSP prisoner Kydetrius Thomas, 27, who is the reputed kingpin of the activity targeted by the FBI. Mannings was also charged with procuring pills for Thomas and exchanging 400 text messages with him via his contraband cellphone.
Four other VSP guards were also charged with helping Thomas run the drug trafficking ring from his cell, including Amber Nicole Peak. She allegedly took money from him to bond fellow guard Alexandria Shadae Walker out of jail on December 1, 2023. Walker was released to await trial on charges that she acted as lookout for a drone drop the prisoner arranged. But she was then reincarcerated in February 2024 after FBI wiretaps installed at the prison allegedly captured her tipping off Thomas about details of the investigation.
In addition, VSP guards Tequa Kionte Alexander and Shambria D. Jackson were named in the indictment, accused with the others of smuggling drug-soaked paper, pills and tobacco, handling financial transactions and storing packages for Thomas’ operation. A sixth DOC guard arrested in the scheme, who worked at Rutledge State Prison, was not named. Nor was seventh guard arrested in Operation Skyhawk, who worked at the Grady County Jail.
Additional sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, WALB, WTXL