Search the ArchivesNavigation Contact InformationThe Citizen Newspapers For Advertising Information Email us your news! For technical difficulties |
Deputies detain county employeesThu, 01/05/2006 - 5:25pm
By: The Citizen
Dispute rages over ownership of cars By JOHN MUNFORD Three Fayette County employees were detained by deputies Wednesday afternoon after they drove away from an auto dealership with three vehicles that had been traded in by the Sheriff’s Office three weeks ago. Although county officials contend the cars were titled to the county and thus owned by the county, sheriff’s officials say they were bought with federal drug seizure funds which by law means they can only be used for law enforcement purposes. The vehicles had been used as undercover cars, and the department routinely trades undercover vehicles out “for obvious reasons,” said Lt. Col. Bruce Jordan, director of investigations for the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office. Because the cars were bought with federal drug seizure funds, the county does not have control over them. “The matter has been turned over to the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Jordan said, noting that no arrests were made nor citations issued in connection with the incident. Fayette County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn was stunned by Wednesday’s events. “They took three county vehicles and traded those in for a new car for Bruce Jordan. Those are taxpayers’ vehicles, not the Sheriff’s Department’s,” he said. Jordan said the initial report from the dealership was unclear about who actually took the vehicles, so deputies began looking for them. Ironically, it was Jordan himself who found the vehicles on Ga. Highway 54 near McDonough Road and followed them into the county’s fleet maintenance area along with an undercover drug agent in an unmarked vehicle and one road deputy. “I said, ‘Get out of our cars,’” Jordan said, adding that County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn had sent a letter to the dealership asserting that the cars were county property. “I told them Greg Dunn has no governing authority over them because they were purchased with federal drug funds,” Jordan said. But Dunn said the three employees were greeted by more than 20 vehicles with sirens blaring and were escorted to the Criminal investigation Division. “They weren’t even read their rights. We’re looking into this as possible illegal detention,” he said. The three county employees, including Business Services Division Director Mark Pullium, were taken to the Sheriff’s Office to write statements about “why they did what they did,” Jordan said. Pullium did not comply with that request, although the two other employees did, Jordan added. All three employees were later released after Sheriff Randall Johnson determined not to arrest them. Jordan said the cars were the dealership’s property and thus the dealership could have taken out criminal warrants for the employees’ arrest. Also, one of the cars had an incorrect tag placed on it, and none of them were insured, meaning that the three employees could have at least been cited for driving without insurance, Jordan said. No citations were written, Jordan confirmed. The three cars had a trade-in value of $21,000, Jordan said. Because they had already had their insurance coverage revoked, the cars had to be towed away, he added. The usage of unmarked undercover cars by the sheriff’s department has been one of the disputes in a long-running disagreement between Dunn and sheriff’s officials, who have rebuffed Dunn’s request for a listing of all unmarked cars the department owns. Dunn and sheriff’s officials have quarreled over the drug seizure money in particular, with the county moving to have all drug funds funneled to the county finance department. But the U.S. Department of Justice has determined the money must go directly to the sheriff because regulations state it can only be used by a law enforcement agency for law enforcement purposes. Jordan said Dunn does something weekly to interfere with the Sheriff’s Office, and this is just another example. “It’s nothing but spitefulness,” Jordan said. But Dunn said Pullium had written a letter to the auto dealer, who then told him to come pick up the cars. “I don’t know what that dealer’s going to do since we have the cars that were used to purchase Bruce’s cars are now in our possession.” In addition to the use of the drug seizure funds, the county and sheriff’s officials have sparred over the use of county marshals — a separate entity controlled by the county commissioners — to make arrests. Another dispute centers on the sheriff’s department constructing a large storage building on property adjacent to the sheriff’s complex in Fayetteville that used to be the site of the temporary building for the magistrate and juvenile courts. In court pleadings, Sheriff Johnson has indicated he had county permission to take over the property. Dunn has also previously voiced his displeasure about the sheriff’s department purchasing a helicopter without notifying county officials beforehand. That purchase was also made with drug seizure funds, officials have said. The issue boils down to following the law, says the commission chairman. “The only time we write a letter is when we want them to follow the law, which they haven’t been doing.” login to post comments
|
Copyright 2010 - Fayette Publishing, Inc. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use Policy
Server 4
