District attorney says Worth sheriff interrupted GBI agent’s interview of his son

ATLANTA — Tuesday is the earliest date that Gov. Nathan Deal can appoint a three-member panel to investigate grand jury indictments against Worth County Sheriff Jeff Hobby. If appointed, the panel would be tasked with recommending whether the sheriff should be removed from office pending the results of the case against him.

Tifton Judicial Circuit District Attorney Paul Bowden said in a letter to Deal accompanying the indictment that Hobby, who continues to work administratively after state officials suspended his police powers, interjected himself into a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent’s interview of Hobby’s 17-year-old son, Zach Hobby, who was arrested Oct. 9 by Poulan police on a drug-related charge. The GBI was handling that investigation at Bowden’s request.

The governor’s office received the letter and a certified copy of the Oct. 3 indictment from Bowden on Oct. 16. Jen Ryan, deputy chief of staff for communications in Deal’s office, said the earliest a panel could be formed under state law is Tuesday, which is 14 days after Deal’s office received the certified copy of the court document. Worth County is in the Tifton Judicial Circuit.

Under Georgia law, the governor can appoint a three-member panel that includes two sheriffs and the state attorney general to review the case and give the governor a non-binding recommendation on whether suspension from office is warranted.

In the letter, Bowden noted that the Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training Council has suspended Hobby’s law enforcement powers, but that the sheriff has continued to act in an administrative capacity.

On Oct. 9, the prosecutor wrote, Zach Hobby was arrested by Poulan Police Department officers on “charges stemming from felony drug activity in Worth County,” adding his office requested that the GBI complete that investigation.

“Following Zach Hobby’s arrest, he was housed in Worth County Jail instead of being transferred to a jail not under the supervision of his father, Sheriff Jeff Hobby,” Bowden wrote. “During an interview of Zach Hobby conducted by an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Sheriff Hobby and his wife, who is also an employee of the Worth County Sheriff’s Office, barged into the room ostensibly to invoke the seventeen-year-old’s Fifth Amendment Rights for him.

“The agent chose to cease the interview at that point since he was inside the Sheriff’s jail; however, Zach Hobby had previously been advised of his rights pursuant to the Fifth Amendment and the Miranda decision and had chosen to speak with the agent. That interview, along with the Sheriff’s interruption, were audio recorded. The room being used for the interview is not accessible to the general public.”

Earlier in the letter, Bowden wrote that the grand jury heard more than 12 hours of evidence regarding the April 14 search of Worth County High School students that resulted in true bills against Sheriff Hobby that included one count of violation of oath of office, two counts of false imprisonment under the color of law, and one count of sexual battery.

“The grand jury returned true bills against Sheriff Hobby, along with two of his deputies, as the result of a search of Worth County High School, which the Worth County Sheriff’s office conducted on April 14, 2017,” Bowden said in the letter. “The investigation into this matter began when a citizen filed a complaint with the Sheriff’s Office alleging a Sheriff’s deputy inappropriately touched the citizen’s daughter during the school search on April 17, 2017.”

The prosecutor said Hobby asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to investigate the claim, and GBI agents “quickly discovered the search conducted at the school was not the typical school search.”

“Sheriff Hobby ordered his deputies to conduct an intrusive search of the bodies of all students present at the high school on that date,” Bowden wrote. “The deputies of the Sheriff’s Office searched each student despite having no probable cause to do so. While the Sheriff has made public statements indicating he instructed his deputies to conduct routine pat downs of the students, the videos, obtained from the school, show students being subjected to an intrusive search, which included at minimum a search of their pockets and shoes.

“Many students were also searched on the inside of their waistbands. Additionally, numerous female students complained of being searched under their intimate garments.”

During his interview with GBI agents, the sheriff admitted that one of his deputies expressed concerns about the search method of another deputy and the sheriff “indicated he told the complaining deputy, who was not a supervisor, to address the issue with her fellow deputy.”

Bowden said Hobby also stated “he saw this same deputy searching in a manner that was not consistent with what he claims were his directives; however, he, by his own admission, failed to take any action to address this issue.”

While the prosecutor said Hobby indicated the reason for the pat-down search was to locate illegal drugs in the school, Bowden said that “a pat-down, by its very nature, is only appropriate for officer safety or to locate weapons.”

Hobby, a former Georgia State Patrol officer, was re-elected to office in November and began a new four-year term of office in January.