Masked deputies in Worth County were conducting drug investigation

SYLVESTER — An official with the Worth County Sheriff’s Office said Friday that an Oct. 19 incident of two masked men wearing civilian clothes and driving an unmarked vehicle while conducting a traffic stop in western Worth County was part of an ongoing undercover drug investigation.

The deputies violated policy by not having a marked sheriff’s unit with them at the time of the incident, the official said.

“I have two deputies that work with the drug unit that do drive an unmarked unit,” Maj. Mike Harrelson of the Worth County Sheriff’s Office said Friday. “The vehicle is equipped with blue lights, a radio and the whole works. The guys wearing masks are legitimate drug agents that were working on an undercover operation at the time.”

The revelation by Harrelson came after numerous reports were made to The Albany Herald by concerned citizens. The Herald contacted the Worth County Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 20, but officials with the department denied that any such operation existed. A Worth SO official told The Herald on Oct. 20 the office “does not have an unmarked vehicle and no such operation exists.”

On Thursday, The Herald, in response to an Open Records Act request, was supplied with an audio recording of an individual who passed by the incident, thought it looked suspicious and called the county’s E-911 center to report it, as well as a written report of the 911 call and a written report referencing the traffic stop by sheriff’s deputies. Photos taken by one of the two men who were pulled over showed the officers involved were masked and wearing civilian clothes with protective vests with the word “POLICE” written on them.

Harrelson said Friday that no one else at the Worth Sheriff’s Office beyond himself and the officers involved knew about the operation, which involved the masked agents tailing and pulling over a suspect vehicle that had been under surveillance.

“The vehicle that was pulled over was a suspect vehicle that was involved with part of that operation,” Harrelson said. “This was not an incident of people out here impersonating officers.”

The two men who were pulled over — Joe Adkins and Kayne Palmer — said the masked officers told them they were being stopped because Palmer’s seat belt was not fastened.

The pair said they were detained over an hour, a time period that is supported by the E-911 reports.

Harrelson said the undercover operation was a unique situation.

“People are speculating that cops all over the country are doing stuff like this, and it’s not true,” he said. “They are not doing stuff like this. Had these officers not been involved with the operation that they were involved in, they would not have had the masks on to begin with. They were wearing the masks because one of the undercover agents had tried to make a purchase from one of the suspects.”

According to Harrelson, the suspects who were pulled over had previously been arrested on drug charges.

“The two guys that were pulled over have both been arrested on drug charges before,” Harrelson said. “This time, no arrest was made, but subsequent arrests have been made as a result of this operation.”

The officers involved, according to the major, have been reprimanded for not following protocol, which requires an undercover unit to have a marked uniform officer present while making an undercover arrest.

“I will tell you this much: These two officers have been reprimanded for that action, personally by me,” Harrelson said. “They were reprimanded because my policy is, if you make a stop, regardless of the situation, unless it’s a safety issue, you should have a marked unit with you. The biggest issue I had with the stop was not that they concealed their identity, but that they didn’t have a marked unit with them.

“There should have been a marked unit with them, and typically there would be. Had it been any other day or any other time, a marked unit would have been with them. But there was a wreck at the same time, and that unit was called to that site.”

According to the Tifton Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, which has Worth County in its jurisdiction, no complaints have been filed against the Worth County Sheriff’s Office because of the incident.

“The DA’s office does not have an open investigation as it relates to this incident,” officials in the prosecutor’s office said Friday. “No criminal charges were made as a result of the traffic stop. At this point, the district attorney’s office does not have any report from any citizen, or any person, claiming that there was any illegal activity as it related to the traffic stop.”