Six Hall County Sheriff’s deputies are out of jobs and two others have been suspended without pay following an internal investigation into misconduct at the Hall County Jail.
All of the employees served on the same night shift at the jail, according to a press release from the Hall County Sheriff’s Office.
An internal investigation was launched in mid-November after the sheriff’s office command staff was made aware of the allegations. The sheriff’s office says the investigation uncovered several violations of policy and procedure related to unbecoming conduct, unsatisfactory performance of duty, sexual misconduct between the employees, and a failure to supervise.
“While the conduct in question did not rise to a criminal level or involve inmates at the facility, the investigation found that it did compromise the professionalism and operational effectiveness of the shift,” says Hall County Sheriff’s spokesperson Lieutenant Greg Cochran.
Six employees resigned. They’re identified as Deputy Randall Norton, Andrew Ondo, Ken Nix, and jailers Dani Colella, Christopher Smith, and Alexis Mitchell. Hall County Sheriff’s Deputy Daniel Harris was suspended for five days. Jailer Kinston Morris was suspended for two days.
“The vast majority of the Deputies, Jailers and civilian professionals who serve in our jail work extremely hard to maintain a safe and professional environment,” says Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch. “While those employees are clearly devoted to professionalism and duty, unfortunately, this small group of employees was not.”
Couch says that when the investigation concluded he took swift disciplinary action to address the issues that were raised.
“I cannot and will not tolerate this type of behavior by our personnel. Poor choices have consequences,” he says. “As Sheriff, I demand exemplary conduct from my employees, to include adherence to the law and our department policy.”
The sheriff says he hopes the actions of “a very few” won’t reflect poorly on the rest of the staff who do excellent work and daily put themselves in harm’s way.
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