John Jefferson
Background: The Richard B. Russell Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Atlanta, Ga. (Google Maps). Inset: Nicholas Grindle (Georgia Department of Corrections).
A former prison guard from Georgia who was convicted on drug charges asked for leniency in his sentencing, citing his military heroism — except the military heroism he cited was fake.
In a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia, authorities announced on Feb. 10 that Nicholas Grindle, 32, received a prison sentence of 87 months behind bars plus three additional years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty in November 2024 to charges of conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with the intent to distribute and bribery. When he stood before a judge for his sentencing, he asked for leniency based on his heroic service while serving in Afghanistan. But then the truth came out.
According to the release, Grindle was working as a prison guard at Georgia’s Hays State Prison when he was caught by his colleagues smuggling “methamphetamine, cell phones, and other contraband” to inmates for a monthlong period in late 2023 and early 2024. Not only were the materials that Grindle planned to distribute discovered in his locker, but an investigation into his financial records revealed that he had been accepting bribes from inmates to bring the goods in.
Grindle pleaded guilty to the charges against him on Nov. 21, 2024.
When the sentencing day arrived, Grindle asked the court for “mercy,” saying that he had been wounded during his service in the U.S. Army while deployed to Afghanistan. He reportedly told the court that “he had been stabbed in the shoulder by a Taliban fighter and killed the fighter with his pistol.”
Grindle was challenged on his claim, and evidence that disproved his story — including letters from former members of his unit and his military records — was presented. Acting U.S. Attorney Richard S. Moultrie, Jr. said, according to the release, that “Grindle violated his oath of office by smuggling drugs into a prison he swore to protect. He then compounded this crime by lying about his military service.”
Jae W. Chung, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration, which investigated Grindle’s case, called the crime “brazen,” adding that Grindle “must now face the consequences.”
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