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After ATF raid, Burke County business owner has probation hearing

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6 months ago

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After ATF raid, Burke County business owner has probation hearing

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – A probation revocation hearing is set Wednesday for a Burke County man whose auto shop was raided by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

News 12 was at the federal courthouse Wednesday morning when Daniel Cates arrived for the hearing.

Magistrate Judge Brian Epps was on the bench.

ATF and the Department Homeland Security found 45 weapons in Cates’ possession, 25 at Cates Firestone and 20 at his home, according to authorities.

The agencies obtained search warrants for both locations after Cates attempted to order a silencer online. Cates’ bond was revoked. He was ordered to surrender to U.S Marshals this morning before the hearing — and he did.

Epps said this could mean five to eight years imprisonment.

Last year, the I-TEAM conducted an investigation of Burke County Sheriff Alfonzo Williams’ connection to the owner of the business, Daniel Cates.

Cates Firestone had already been at the center of a federal investigation.

Cates and Grady Brandon Mobley pleaded guilty in a decades-long illegal gambling operation — where hundreds of thousands of dollars in winnings were illegally funneled through businesses, including $250,000 funneled through Cates Firestone.

Cates was sentenced to three years of probation. Mobley was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay more than $200,000 in restitution.

Now, Cates finds himself headed back to court after this most recent search of his business.

Court records show Mobley violated his probation on May 2 for using and possessing alcohol – along with getting arrested.

The I-TEAM obtained federal court documents and found Williams was a character witness for Mobley, lobbying for a lesser sentence and calling him a “model citizen.”

Campaign records show both the Mobley and Cates families were big contributors to Williams’ campaign for sheriff.

U.S. Probation Services and ATF conducted a search of Cates’ Burke County residence and at Cates Firestone, 508 W. Sixth St. in Waynesboro on May 29.

Authorities haven’t released information about what they were looking for in the recent ATF raid. The I-TEAM has requested search warrants from federal court, but they are not public record yet.

But a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Cates is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court on Wednesday for a probation revocation hearing.

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