MOULTRIE, Ga. - Two men were arrested Tuesday in connection with a string of brutal attacks in South Georgia that targeted immigrant farm workers, authorities said.
The crime rampage last week left six workers dead, either shot or bludgeoned with baseball bats. Four other workers were injured and a woman raped.
Stacy Bernard Sims, 19, and Jamie Underwood, 22, are accused of shooting and beating a Hispanic man at a Norman Park mobile park and then raping his wife.
Each faces two counts of aggravated assault, one count of aggravated sodomy, one count of rape, armed robbery, burglary and kidnapping, Colquitt County Sheriff Al Whittington said.
More charges are likely, especially in neighboring Tift County, where immigrant workers were killed during home invasions at three other mobile home parks, Whittington said.
The predawn attacks Friday sent a chill through south Georgia's large Hispanic community, which includes thousands of workers who harvest millions of dollars worth of crops, from peaches to Vidalia onions.
"I know the Hispanic community is very nervous with this going on," Whittington said in announcing the arrests. "Hopefully, this will give them some peace." Authorities believe Sims and Underwood may have been part of an armed-robbery gang that preyed on immigrant workers, who often carry large sums of cash because they lack documents to open bank accounts.
Whittington said the arrests resulted from an investigation by the FBI, the U.S. Marshal's Service, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and local police.
Earlier Tuesday, GBI director Vernon Keenan said there had been about 20 home invasions targeting Hispanics in Tift, Colquitt and Cook counties within the past three months.
Five victims in the Friday attacks died the day of the incidents, officials said. The sixth victim, an immigrant farm worker whose name was not released, died Tuesday.
The other five victims - Armando Martinez, Mateo Gomez, Jose Luis Gomez, Felipe Esparza and Guadalupe Sanchez - were all found slain on Friday. Two were found at Skeeter's Mobile Home Park, two more were found at Town and Country Mobile Home Park and one was found at Good Neighbor Mobile Home Park.
