One man is in custody and multiple theft cases, including some in Effingham County, are in the process of being cleared following an operation conducted by the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team.
Effingham County Sheriff’s Office investigators said Steven Daniel Jonas confessed to a string of crimes in Effingham, including stealing six air conditioning units from Living Faith Church of God on Highway 30, an air conditioning unit from a house under construction off Highway 30 and two air conditioning units from a trailer on Blue Jay Road.
In its hunt for methamphetamine labs, CNT began to target Jonas, 33, of Pooler. During other meth lab operations, the name Steven kept surfacing and CNT was able to quickly identify Steven as Steven Jonas, according to the CNT.
Late last week, a CNT undercover agent bought meth from Jonas. Unknowingly to Jonas, he was tracked by CNT agents who monitored his movements until agents located a suspected meth lab. Armed with enough information to know the meth lab was not currently active, CNT postponed any takedowns at that time.
On Friday, the same CNT agents, working undercover, met with Jonas in the parking lot of the Home Depot in Pooler. During the meet, a CNT agent traded an undisclosed amount of boxes of pseudoephedrine for undisclosed amount of methamphetamine. Once the transaction was completed, Jonas was immediately taken into custody by CNT agents with the assistance of Pooler Police and Savannah-Chatham Metro Police.
Jonas was returned to his residence Pooler where CNT agents believed the meth lab to be. A search of the residence resulted in the seizure of an inactive meth lab. Additional evidence found at the residence suggested Jonas had conducted multiple cooks in the past, according to the CNT.
In addition to the seized meth lab and evidence of the previous labs, Jonas, who was cooperative with agents, directed agents to various dumpsites in the Pooler and Savannah area where he was dumping trash of previous completed meth-cooking operations.
Often persons who manufacture meth dump the trash in wooded areas, roadways or dumpsters.
In addition to the drug aspect of the case, agents learned during interviews of Jonas that he was responsible for a large number of air condition/copper thefts throughout Chatham County. CNT gents contacted all local law enforcement agencies and alerted them to their findings. Detectives from Metro Police, Pooler Police, Garden City and surrounding agencies, including the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office, met with CNT agents. All agencies then interviewed Jonas, who admitted to the various thefts and gave specific details concerning the thefts.
Jonas gave statements concerning multiple air conditioning thefts to include thefts at local churches, Boy Scouts of America and various construction sites. In addition to a number of drug related charges, additional theft related charges are expected to be placed on Jonas by the various law enforcement agencies.
Jonas was taken to the Chatham County Detention Center. Jonas’ residence was cleared of any harmful materials by CNT agents trained in the cleanup and seizure of methamphetamine labs. The various dumpsites Jonas alerted agents about were checked and cleared by CNT agents.
Jonas is being charged with sale of a controlled substance, manufacturing meth, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, use of a telecommunication device, possession of tools during the commission of a felony and theft by taking.
