July 16, 2008

AUGUSTA, Ga.---Last fall's Augusta Ink undercover operation netted dozens of arrests on gang, weapons and contraband charges.

Now Nathaniel Eugene Jones, 20, has been sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. He pleaded guilty earlier to two counts of using a firearm during a violent crime. There is no parole in the Federal prison system.

The evidence also connnected Jones to a shooting at the former Club Dreams on Washington Rd. in early 2007 and a carjacking a few months later.

During the "Augusta Ink" sting, undercover deputies and agents posed as owners and employees of a tattoo parlor on Tobacco oRoad.
There they purchsed firearms and other items from customers. The U.S. Attorney says the firearm used by Jones in the Clulb Dreams shooting was purchased by those officers. Agents also purchase a Mercedes-Benz Jones and other defendant had carjacked a day earlier.

Information from U.S. Attorney's Office, Augusta, Georgia.