The wheels are in motion for a possible criminal investigation into the chief detective of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office over the assignment of two detectives to a security detail for a local youth baseball team on a trip to Tennessee and allegations they were paid with money from the sheriff’s drug seizure fund.

That criminal investigation would likely center on the sheriff’s top detective, Lt. Col. Bruce Jordan, who is already the subject of an internal investigation regarding the case. The allegations were reported by Fox5 television Thursday evening.

Jordan has denied any wrongdoing in the matter. He was put on administrative leave Friday pending the results of the investigation, Sheriff Randall Johnson said Friday afternoon.
Jordan declined comment on the matter Tuesday afternoon.

Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard has asked the Georgia Attorney General’s office to appoint a special prosecutor to consider a possible criminal investigation into the matter. That prosecutor could ask another law enforcement agency, such as the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, to look into the allegations, Ballard said.

Ballard said one of the reasons for his office not conducting the investigation is to insure the public’s faith in the investigation. Had he overseen the inquiry, some people could have questions no matter the outcome, he added.

“The process of deciding whether to investigate, who to investigate and possible charges to be filed should be above reproach,” Ballard said.

Once that investigation is concluded, Johnson said his office will release a written statement.

Jordan, whose son was on the youth team, has denied that he arranged the security detail to be paid with money from the sheriff’s drug funds, and he also said he paid the money back with a personal check.

Jordan has said the security was necessary after a coach for a team known as the Georgia Reds threatened the Fayette Bulldogs after the Bulldogs won a game at Whitewater High School earlier this summer. It was clear the two teams would meet again at the Southeast regional tournament in Tennessee, Jordan said.

Jordan told The Citizen Thursday that the threat was heard by one of the Bulldogs players.

“He said something like, ‘We’ll see what happens when you don’t have all these cops around,’” Jordan recalled.

Jordan said he wrote a check to pay back the sheriff’s office for the security although he initially thought the American Amateur Baseball Congress which hosted the Tennessee tournament was going to reimburse the sheriff’s department. Jordan said he later learned the AABC would not reimburse the funds.

The Bulldogs play in the AABC through the Fayette County Recreation Department.

Although the Fox5 report stated that Jordan didn’t cut his personal check until two days after the TV station sought related records in a written request, Jordan told The Citizen Thursday that he was unaware the open records request had been filed at the time. He added that the check had cleared the bank by the time the Fox5 reporter spoke to him.

“I hadn’t seen it (the open records request) until yesterday,” Jordan said Thursday.

Jordan has said the sheriff’s department has sent deputies on security details with school field trips and he didn’t think this situation was any different particularly because of the reported threats.

The Fox5 report stated that the coach of the Georgia Reds told the station that while he and the team taunted the Bulldogs, they did not threaten them.

Ballard said he hoped the case didn’t provide a distraction to the law enforcement community’s main goal, “to keep the public safe.”

While this investigation into alleged improprieties is important in particular to enhance “the public’s trust,” Ballard said, public safety is still job number one.