Stripling Luke

TIFTON — A Tifton resident has been named to a leadership post in the Southwestern Regional Drug Enforcement Office in Albany, according to a Georgia Bureau of Investigation statement.

Stripling Luke will be the assistant special agent in charge of SWRDEO. Luke will be responsible for the supervision of the special agents and task force agents assigned to the unit. SWRDEO covers a 42-county area in southwest Georgia.  

Luke has been employed with the GBI for more than 14 years. He began his career as a special agent assigned to the Altamaha Drug Task Force in Baxley. In 2007, Luke transferred to the GBI’s Region 15 dual purpose office in Sylvester. While serving there, he investigated mid- to high-level drug trafficking organizations. 

 In 2016, Luke was recognized by the Georgia Narcotics Officer Association as the recipient of the Joseph Whitehead Award. In 2017, he was selected by the GBI as the recipient of the Stephen B. Robertson Memorial Award. Luke has also been a certified public safety bomb technician for the GBI since 2018, GBI officials said.

He received a bachelor of science degree from Valdosta State University in May 2004 and a master of science degree in criminal justice from Valdosta State University in May 2006.   

Luke is from Camilla and lives in Tifton.

In October, Eric Schwalls, a fellow Tifton resident, was promoted to special agent in charge of SWRDEO.