Austell man convicted of meth and attempted-escape charges

photo of Cobb Superior Court building from the front with a blue sky with clouds in the background

An Austell man who was wanted on charges of meth distribution was convicted of multiple charges, including putting officers at risk, and sentenced to 30 years, with 25 of them to be served in prison.

Rasheed Oran Jakes, 32, was convicted by a jury Thursday morning in the courtroom of Cobb Superior Court Chief Judge Reuben Green on multiple charges involving a series of three events.

A public information release from the office of Cobb County District Attorney Joyette Holmes described the series of incidents leading to arrest and conviction as follows:

The case began Nov. 30, 2017, when a person was shot inside Jakes’ apartment on Riverside Parkway. Jakes left the injured person at a hospital, where medical personnel contacted police regarding the shooting. Cobb Police then went to Jakes’ apartment, where they found more than 200 grams of methamphetamine and more than six ounces of marijuana.

Jakes was arrested on charges of possession of drugs with intent to distribute. While he was on bond for those charges, he failed to appear in court on Oct. 11, 2018, and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.

Then on the afternoon of March 5, 2019, Cobb Police officers patrolling the area of Riverside Parkway attempted to stop a vehicle Jakes was driving. Jakes stopped his vehicle briefly, but as the officer approached, Jakes put his vehicle in gear and rammed the police vehicle, nearly striking the officer. Other officers soon immobilized his vehicle. During his arrest, police found more drugs and two 9mm handguns in his vehicle.

“Drugs are a danger to our community, but this is about more than the drugs,” Assistant District Attorney Rachel Hines said. “There’s the quantity of drugs and this defendant’s disregard for the court, plus the firearms involved – when there was already a shooting inside his apartment. In 2019, more than a year after his arrest, he was in the same area again with drugs and firearms.”

In handing down a 30-year sentence, Judge Green said, “Drugs are killing our community … and along with drugs go weapons. You put a lot of people at risk with your behavior.”