One officer demoted four others reprimanded following pre-dawn badminton game

 

DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – Dawson County Sheriff’s Office Night Patrol Shift Supervisor Donna Bennett has been demoted from sergeant to corporal after she and the entire night patrol shift left the county with no officers on the road last Wednesday to play badminton in a local middle school gym.

Corporal Casey Honea, and Deputies Jacob Champion, Richard Martin and Corey Gearin all received a verbal reprimand for their participation in the pre-dawn departure from duty. The officers reportedly met at the school to conduct a building-clearing exercise.

Johnson said the game lasted only 35 minutes, but a video surveillance camera shows the officers were in the gym from 1:45 a.m. until 3:46 a.m.

The incident is just the latest in a series of incidents that has created negative publicity for the sheriff’s office and caused some elected officials to questioning Johnson’s leadership. Some have quietly discussed finding someone to run against him in the next election.

The negative publicity started during Johnson’s first year in office when he angered county commissioners by filing a $700,000 lawsuit against them seeking additional funding in his budget. Johnson claimed the Board abused its discretion by setting the sheriff’s office budget at $8.4 million.

Senior Superior Court Judge Fred A. Bishop ruled against the sheriff and taxpayers were left to pick up the cost of the lawsuit. At the end of the year Johnson was surprised to learn that he had $400,000 remaining in the budget that he failed spend.

In the last three months, three Dawson County detention officers have been arrested.

In September, Luciano Pablo Betancourt was forced to resign and charged with violation of oath of office after a female inmate alleged she and Betancourt had carried on a sexual relationship.

One week later, detention officer Michael Kormos was arrested in Lumpkin County and charged with simple battery family violence following a weekend domestic dispute with his estranged wife.

On December 2, Richard Anthony was arrested in Cherokee County and charged with battery against his wife.

Fetch Your News attempted to contact Johnson for comment, but he declined to return our call.

 

 

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