Republican elected to Georgia House facing drug and burglary charges: 'We actually filmed him'

Over the years, the Republican Party has had countless promoters of the War on Drugs — from President Ronald Reagan to Bill Bennett (former secretary of education under Reagan) to the late radio host Rush Limbaugh (who had a major OxyContin addiction at the same time he was calling for draconian penalties for drug users). And the United States has the prison population to show for it, incarcerating, per capita, more of its residents than any other country in the world.

The fact that the GOP has played so prominent a role in the War on Drugs doesn’t mean that its own members are immune to drug charges. In Barrow County, Georgia, a Republican who was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in the 2022 midterms has been arrested for allegedly stealing drugs from an assisted living center. According to Athens Banner-Herald reporter Wayne Ford, Rep.-Elect Daniel E. Rampey was arrested on Thursday, December 15.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith alleges, “We had a couple of instances of him on video taking the items, and today, we had one as well. We actually filmed him going into the residence and taking the items.”

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The 67-year-old Rampey was scheduled to be sworn into the Georgia House of Representatives on January 9, 2023. Rampey defeated fellow Republican Marcus Ray in his district in a primary earlier this year but was unopposed in the general election.

Ford reports, “The criminal investigation began about two weeks ago after the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office received information about ‘suspicious activity involving missing medications,’ according to the Sheriff’s Office…. The stolen drugs involved prescription narcotics, Smith said.”

According to Ford, Rampey has been “charged with the distribution or possession of a controlled substance, burglary, and exploitation of a disabled adult.”

Ford reports, “He remains in the Barrow County Detention Center without bond, but Smith said a bond hearing is possible on Friday, (December 16) in front of a Magistrate’s Court judge.

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Additional charges, according to Smith, are possible if more evidence is uncovered.

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