Bruce Jordan, the former chief detective for the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, will have new duties when he reports for work Friday when his suspension ends, according to Sheriff Randall Johnson.

Jordan, who was demoted from lieutenant colonel to lieutenant after an internal investigation, will be serving civil papers and arrest warrants, Johnson confirmed Tuesday morning.

The investigation focused on the assignment of two sheriff’s detectives to provide security for a Fayette County baseball team that travelled to Tennessee after they were reportedly threatened by the coach of another team at a previous tournament. Jordan’s son played on that same team.

The detectives’ expenses for the four-day trip were paid from a special fund consisting of money seized from drug dealers. It is not clear if such an expense would be allowed under the federal guidelines for administering the funds. The detectives also received compensatory time for serving on the assignment.

Jordan has denied any wrongdoing and is appealing the personnel decision. Johnson has said the internal investigation determined that Jordan violated department policy though he has declined to explain what policy has been violated.

“He’s a good investigator,” Johnson said Tuesday, adding that in Jordan’s former position as director of investigations, “he ought to have known better.”

The matter will also be sifted through to determine if criminal charges are necessitated by a special prosecutor requested by Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard.

The internal investigation was ordered several weeks ago by Johnson after a television news report on the security provided for the baseball team.

The demotion to lieutenant is a three-rank cut for Jordan, who also gets a pay cut as part of the discipline, Johnson said. He is now paid at the highest pay grade for the rank of lieutenant, the sheriff said.

Through his attorney, Jordan has alleged that the sheriff was aware of the trip for Jordan and the two detectives. If Jordan is not fully reinstated to his former position with back pay, he is likely to file a federal lawsuit against the sheriff’s office, said attorney Lee Sexton.

Talk of a possible lawsuit between Jordan and Johnson is a bizarre turn for the sheriff’s office considering the two have been together for all of Johnson’s 27 years in office. Jordan started as a 19-year-old radio operator and worked his way up to director of investigations.

Jordan, whose son was on the 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 called 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 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 has 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 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.

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.