The first black mayor of Phenix City, Alabama, United States is former Canadian Football League player is Eddie Lowe. Born in Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia, USA, he turned 65 on January 1, 1960.
Columbus is home to the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office. The city is around 114 miles away from Decatur, DeKalb County, Georgia, which is home to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Operation Lights Out
The Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force is housed within the Child Exploitation And Computer Crimes Unit (CEACCU) at the GBI. From April 25-27, 2025, the task force, the GBI and the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office conducted Operation Lights Out, a human trafficking operation involving online sexual predators.
A total of 19 men were arrested. Six of them are from Alabama, USA including Phenix City residents Hunter Salmi, 22, and Jungmok Shin, 33.
Salmi is a mechanic. He was charged with violation of the Computer or Electronic Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act of 2007.
Shin is an engineer. He was charged with human trafficking.
The 19 suspects are accused of engaging in sexually explicit online conversations with minors and arranging in-person meetings to commit sexual acts. They allegedly traveled with the intent to exploit both boys and girls.
“These predators will travel from near and far to victimize your children,” Muscogee County sheriff Gregory Countryman Sr., 58, of Columbus stated. “We take these crimes against children very seriously. It will be our focus to find these predators so they may be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Countryman began his first term as the sheriff on January 1, 2021. He was reelected on November 5, 2024.
Born in Plains, Sumter County, Georgia, Countryman moved to Columbus with his family after his father was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia. He and his wife Angela Countryman have three sons namely Christopher Countryman, Gregory Countryman Jr. and William Countryman.
CONAN Daily 