Georgia Sheriff Indicted for Warrantless, Invasive Search of High School Students

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On October 3, a jury indicted Worth County, Georgia, Sheriff Jeff Hobby for sexual battery, false imprisonment, and violation of oath of office after he conducted a school-wide search of nearly 800 students.

The charges stem from an incident on April 14, 2017, in which Hobby put the Worth County High School on a four-hour lockdown, allegedly searching for drugs. Forty officers participated in the search, in which students were ordered to give their cell phones to deputies and stand up against classroom and hallway walls.

No drugs were found. But during the search, deputies allegedly touched girls’ vaginas and breasts and groped boys in the groin during the search.

“After the pat down was conducted it was discovered that one of the deputies had exceeded the instructions given by the Sheriff and conducted a pat down of some students that was more intrusive than instructed by the Sheriff,” the department’s statement said. “Upon discover of the deputy’s actions, the Sheriff has taken corrective action to insure that this behavior will not occur again.”

The statement didn’t specify what kind of corrective action was taken.

“I’m disappointed that the deputy that violated my daughter was not indicted,” said Amaryllis Coleman, a parent of one of the students subject to the intrusive searches. “I don’t know how I’m going to tell this to my daughter.”

Georgia law allows police officers or sheriffs accused of a crime related to their official duties to appear before the grand jury and give statements. (Private citizens don’t get this privilege.) The Sheriff and his deputies chose not to do so, most likely because under a new law passed last year, officers would have been subject to cross-examination and wouldn’t have been able to rebut statements made during that cross-examination.

Norman Crowe, Jr., the sheriff’s attorney, said “The sheriff’s position is that he’s not guilty.” Hobby was at the school for the raid, Crowe said, but he personally didn’t touch the students so “he’s committed no crime.”

The grand jury indicted two deputies along with the sheriff. Deputy Tyler Turner was indicted on one felony count of violation of oath of office and one misdemeanor count of sexual battery. Deputy Deidra Whiddon was indicted on one count of violation of oath of office.

The sheriff is also facing a federal civil rights lawsuit filed in June by nine students who were subjected to inappropriate and invasive searches.