The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office fired a deputy for violating his oath of office following his arrest earlier this month on a domestic violence charge. Habersham County Chief Deputy Murray Kogod says Ryan Kelley’s employment was terminated after Stephens County deputies arrested him on one count of simple battery on August 5.
In a statement to Now Habersham, Kogod says the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office was made aware of a possible domestic violence incident at Kelley’s home in Stephens County. Kogod says he personally “reached out to the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office to determine whether the information was accurate and, if so, what actions were being taken regarding the incident.” He was informed that Stephens County was investigating.
“The investigation was based on the fact that the victim in the incident had alleged physical contact and that there was a possibility of criminal charges,” Kogod tells Now Habersham.
Stephens County investigators secured an arrest warrant after interviewing Kelley. Kogod says he conducted an internal investigation and “preliminarily found that Deputy Kelley had violated his oath of office and Habersham County Sheriff’s Office policy and procedure.”
Kelley was released from the Stephens County jail on August 8 on a $1,000 bond.
According to the incident report filed by the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office, alcohol was involved. Kelley is at least the third Habersham County deputy to be arrested and lose his job over an alcohol-related incident since June of last year.
Former investigator Chance Oxner and former patrol deputy Scott Lilly were both arrested and charged with DUI in unrelated traffic incidents. Both were fired from their jobs.
A year prior to his dismissal, Oxner and his son Zachary, who also worked at the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office, were arrested and charged with battery after getting into an altercation with one another. At the time of their arrests, Sheriff Terrell told local media, “There’s a lesson in here for all of us. There’s ways that we can handle ourselves a whole lot better than doing what we’re doing.”
Now Habersham reached out to Sheriff Terrell for comment on the Kelley case. He did not respond.
