A known gang leader incarcerated in the Bulloch County Correctional Institute failed a drug test Tuesday and then fought guards who tried to take him to solitary confinement.

Marico Carva McCord, 32, of Crimford Court in Lithonia, is serving a prison sentence for burglary and other crimes committed in several counties. After Tuesday's struggle, he was also charged with battery, riot in a penal institution and obstruction, according to Bulloch County Jail records.

BCCI warden Chris Hill said inmates were surprised Tuesday around 6:30 a.m. with a random drug test. Inmates often have relatives or friends drop off drugs, cigarettes, cellphones and other contraband at locations where they are going to be on work detail and "hide it in their rectum, bring it back and smoke it," he said.

After McCord, who Hill said is a leader in the Bloods gang, tested positive for drugs, guards attempted to escort him to solitary confinement, but he fought back, striking a guard. He was subdued by OC spray (similar to pepper spray) and then handcuffed, Hill said.

The struggle took place in a dorm with 32 other inmates, and because "McCord is high up in the hierarchy with the Bloods" with potential influence on other inmates, the possibility of his actions could have sparked a riot, he said.

According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, McCord is serving a sentence after being convicted of several burglaries, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, criminal damage to property, impersonating another and thefts in Dekalb, Fulton and Rockdale counties.

Herald reporter Holli Deal Saxon maybe reached at (912) 489-9414.