Lawsuit Alleges "Systemic Scheme" of Sexual Abuse in Cherokee County Jail
GBI is investigating following the complaint filed in federal court
A woman claims a sheriff's deputy violently raped her during her time as an inmate in the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center and threatened her life, according to a lawsuit filed on July 28th in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Even more disturbing is the allegation that "rape, sexual battery, and coerced sexual acts with female [jail] inmates was rampant, routine, and widespread throughout the [jail], particularly in connection with the [inmate] Workforce program." Sheriff Frank Reynolds and several members of his command staff are accused in the complaint of knowing about the widespread sexual abuse of inmates and actively working to cover it up.
For many locals this accusation may come as a surprise, but a look at recent history shows that our sheriff's department has a troubling history when it comes to rape and sexual assault.
The Arrest of Richard Gilleland
Three years ago a sheriff's deputy who worked as a supervisor at the Detention Center was arrested and charged with two counts of sexual assault against a person in custody, two counts of sexual battery and two counts of violation of oath of office. Court documents indicate Gilleland's case has not yet gone to trial. (Technically Gilleland was no longer a sheriff's deputy at the time of his arrest, as he was placed on leave and resigned before charges were officially filed.)
As reported in The Cherokee Tribune & Ledger-News:
"This type of behavior will not be tolerated," said Sheriff Frank Reynolds. "Our deputies have worked hard to gain the trust and respect from the community. When one of them breaks the law they will be held accountable."
According to sheriff's office spokesman Jay Baker, two inmates made complaints against Gilleland. All of the criminal charges are related to his conduct with [only] one of the inmates. In the case of the other [woman], Gilleland's conduct violated department policy, but did not rise to the level of a crime, Baker said.
When speaking to reporters the sheriff admitted: "There are portions of the jail that are not monitored by video surveillance. It is our belief that he took the female to that portion of the jail that is not videotaped."
On its surface this appears to be a case of the system working correctly: A deputy committed a crime during the course of his duties, it was reported, and he is being held accountable. Sheriff Reynolds issued a forceful statement :
"We work hard to build trust and confidence with our citizens, and in cases like, this we're going to police ourselves and we take this very seriously, and this is something I'm not going to tolerate."
The complaint filed last month makes contradicts Reynolds’ claims: "Deputy Gilleland sexually assaulted many more than two inmates in the [Cherokee County jail] ... Furthermore, Deputy Gilleland was just one of many officers who engaged in sexual assault of female inmates." The document also states that the senior sheriff's office leadership received "numerous reports of sexual abuse by other [jail] personnel and "nonetheless failed to undertake any appropriate investigation, make policy changes, or make changes to customs to eliminate the rampant sexual abuse of inmates."
A Troubling History
The recent allegations and charges against the former deputy are more troubling in context. Local reporting revealed the Cherokee County sheriff's office has earned a reputation for not pursuing or properly investigating reported rape and sexual assault. Here are a few examples:
"They can make up something in their mind"
In April of 2021 Ashley Grier filed a police report after she was sexually assaulted during a massage. Investigator Owens demonstrated empathy when Grier expressed regret about not speaking up when the man began "full-on massaging [her] breasts." He told her that silence was not consent and urged her not to feel bad.
Owens' tone changed when he was talking to the suspect:
"I would just say, be careful going forward where your arms travel (laughs), because some young women come in, you don't know what their background is, if they've been assaulted before, sometimes they can make up something in their mind or they can think something that didn't happen, and they'll be convinced that it happened."
Mark Anderson, Field Operations Commander, defended the statement: "He had realized that he did not have any probable cause for arrest in that case. Although it may sound distasteful. There isn't anything procedurally wrong."
Six Years For Justice
In June of last year 11Alive reported on a Cherokee County woman who turned in video evidence of being raped while unconscious—video that showed the face of her attacker, an ex-boyfriend named Leon Harper.
"She called the police. She told the Cherokee Sheriff's Office she was raped, that she had video evidence, and that she knew who did it. (The videos also showed another, unidentified woman also raped while unconscious.) She thought it was an open and shut case. That was in May of 2015. [At time of reporting], more than six years later, her case is still unsolved." Public records show that Detective Dobbs did not even attempt to contact the accused rapist until April of 2018, and only months later claimed there was nothing more he could do. Two years later Dobbs noted he was ready to obtain a warrant. "The sheriff's office even puts up a post on Facebook asking for the public's help in finding the man so detectives can question him. Then on March 8 [of 2021], the detective said he doesn't have enough to charge him." Dobbs even wrote that he didn't believe the accused was still in the state.
But according to reporting by Lindsey Basye and Kristin Crowley, he was easily found still living in Cherokee County and they were able to speak with him on the phone. If that weren't infuriating enough, it turns out that he had recently been pulled over by a Cherokee County sheriff's deputy, but "because there [was] no warrant, there was no red flag that popped up during the stop."
The victim, understandably frustrated, stated: "I don't know what justice looks like anymore."
In July of last year the accused rapist was arrested for operating a vehicle with a suspended license. A few months later charges for filed for Rape and Aggravated Sodomy—more than six years after video evidence was provided to the Cherokee County sheriff's office.
Exceptional Clearance
"[Rape is] not really a crime in their book," stated Megan Fraser, who told 11Alive last year that her rape case in Cherokee County remained unsolved. And while it would be easy to believe that such beliefs are the exception rather than the rule, a look at internal reporting reveals disturbing statistics.
"I guess if you're a rapist, come on to Georgia because we're not prosecuting folks here ... and that is scary for our community," said Jennifer Bivins, president and CEO of the Georgia Network to End Sexual Assault. Here are some numbers.
From 2015 to 2020, the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office investigated 220 rapes. It cleared, or solved, 176 of them. That's a 78% clearance rate. It sounds good, but it's misleading. The Reveal uncovered the department only arrested 36 suspects. That's 16%. A majority of the cases, 39% of them were ruled "unfounded." Another 20% were closed citing something called "exceptional clearance."
"It kind of gives a false illusion that we're doing a better job of solving these cases than we really are," said Thaddeus Johnson, a criminology professor at Georgia State University and a former Memphis Police Officer.
Johnson said exceptional clearance is meant to close a case when circumstances beyond an officer's control prevent the arrest of a known suspect. For example, if the suspect has died, left the country, or is already in custody for another crime in another jurisdiction.
"In policing, in police leadership, what we care about are numbers. So, we care about public safety, don't get me wrong, but at that level it's about numbers because funding goes along with it, credibility goes along with it," Johnson explained. "Exceptional clearance allows prosecutors and departments to be able to satisfy those statistical, or, those numbers without being held accountable to follow all the way through with the investigation."
In other words, the sheriff's office published a 78% solved rate for the crime of rape but more of them were from "exceptional clearance" than actual arrest. Cherokee County told local reporters "the reason behind most of its exceptionally cleared rape cases was the victim 'wouldn't cooperate'"—blaming the woman because the police didn't solve a crime.
Because of these troubling issues the Georgia assembly passed GA HB255: the Sexual Assault Reform Act of 2021.
“We made some mistakes”
When confronted with bad press over this issue last year (2021) the sheriff's office claimed (again) it was taking this problem seriously and was ready to implement change. Captain Anderson admitted, "Being honest with you, in going back and looking at the first story that you did, we made some mistakes. And we own that, I own that. And going forward we can always do better." He said that the sheriff's office would create a policy that covers sexual-related crimes (a policy that previously didn't exist) and implement new training and procedures. Lieutenant Garrett Carter added: "Once these processes are in place, taking a historic look at our cases that we still have statute of limitations on and re-evaluate those historic cases to right any wrongs that may have been committed in the past."
I have not been able to find any written policies or statements from the Cherokee County sheriff's office to demonstrate those plans have moved forward in the past eight months.
Lawsuit Alleges Inmate Workforce Program Used to Recruit Victims
The Cherokee County Adult Detention Center holds 512 beds and is used to house both detainees awaiting trial and convicted inmates. The sheriff's office also operates an inmate labor program known as Workforce. In 2018 the program was touted as a way to reduce county spending while also offering an opportunity for inmates to reduce their sentence, with a few dozen inmates allowed to help maintain local parks in cooperation with the Cherokee Recreation & Parks Agency.
"The program is a win-win, helping spare the taxpayers money, benefiting the community, and helping the inmates become more productive citizens upon their release," according to sheriff Reynolds.
But far more inmates serve in the Workforce program to provide labor inside the jail than are loaned out to clean up local parks. Inmates that participate in the Workforce program are housed in a special "pod" apart from other prisoners.
According to the lawsuit filed by the Harman Law Firm, "to incentivize participation, inmates permitted into Workforce receive great benefits, including spending eight or more hours per day outside of the inmate pods, better quality food, and time credited against their sentences," that "personnel exploited these incentives to use Workforce as part of a widespread, systemic scheme to take advantage of female [jail] inmates," and "during the operation of Workforce, [sheriff's office] personnel routinely engaged in coerced and forced sexual acts with female [Detention Center] inmates." (The document uses ADC for Adult Detention Center and CSO for Cherokee Sheriff's Office.)
The complaint claims "it was well-known among ADC inmates and CSO personnel that CSO officers routinely engaged in coerced and non-consensual sexual acts with the inmates on Workforce," and that "officers operating the Workforce program would select young, attractive inmates for Workforce."
A Violent Rape
The plaintiff in the federal lawsuit claims she joined the inmate Workforce program after two other young women in her pod turned down the opportunity. It was only upon moving to the housing pod dedicated to the inmate labor force she began hearing about "rampant sexual abuse of inmates in the program." Her duties included laundry and delivering food and miscellaneous items to other portions of the jail.
It was at this point a sheriff's deputy allegedly began "groping her and rubbing up against her while she was attempting to perform her assigned duties." She did not report this initial behavior because she was afraid of retribution and did not want to be removed from the Workforce program.
The plaintiff claims that in October 2020 the same sheriff's deputy instructed her to retrieve canned food from a stockroom, an area under construction and "known to not have active surveillance cameras." It was there she claims she was "forcibly, violently raped ... causing a severe laceration among other injuries." He then "expressly threatened to kill [her] if she ever told anybody about the rape."
Widespread Sexual Abuse
Even worse than the awful incident described above is the claim that "rape, sexual battery, and coerced sexual acts with female ADC inmates was rampant, routine, and widespread throughout the ADC, particularly in connection with the Workforce program." The plaintiff in the case claims to be aware of at least six female inmates who were sexually assaulted by officers while she was in the county jail.
The suit alleges the abuse was "well-known throughout the ADC. It was a common topic of discussion among both ADC inmates and CSO personnel," and that victim-blaming is standard practice. The suit states the program manager for the detention center "behaved as if the sexual abuse was the inmates' fault and warned female inmates to avoid being alone or interacting with the male CSO officers."
According to the complaint, Sheriff Reynolds and the command staff received reports of the rape of another inmate, and one of the defendants was used to "recruit inmates for Workforce who the male officers perceived as sexually attractive and, therefore, sought the opportunity to sexually assault." She also heard another woman being told she would be dropped from the Workforce if she reported any sexual abuse. "It was clear from this conversation that the Defendants were not only aware of the widespread sexual abuse of inmates, but also experienced in covering it up."
The document states the jail chaplain knew of the inmate sexual abuse and tried to warn women and give them advice to protect themselves. It also claims that Sergeant Dawn Burkhart, "the ADC's Prison Rape Elimination Act Coordinator, knew of rampant sexual abuse but did nothing, failed to investigate or follow up on reports of sexual abuse, and attempted to avoid the victims and female inmates." The plaintiff also claims to have witnessed male officers coming and going from female inmates’ rooms in the middle of the night without any legitimate business.
GBI Investigation
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed that sheriff Reynolds requested they investigate the allegations of long-standing sexual abuse and the responsibility of the sheriff and his command staff. It was also made clear they would not make any additional public statements.
"We have been made aware of the lawsuit filed, however we are unable to comment as this is now pending litigation. Sheriff Frank Reynolds and the Cherokee Sheriff's Office take the allegations very seriously. Earlier this week, we requested and welcomed the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to step in and conduct an independent investigation into the allegations . This afternoon, we were notified, they have agreed."
The defendants named in the complaint have until August 30th to respond. At this point no one named in the document has been arrested or charged with a crime.
Interesting news. Especially with the recent release of this book where the Cherokee County Detention Center is a focal point!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B92NQ387?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860
Tess Sanderson, finds herself behind bars, wrongfully accused of being an accomplice to her sweetheart's pot growing escapades. Focused and oblivious, Tess has been making a name for herself in the affluent Alpharetta equestrian real estate world, while juggling flips and rehabs with Evan, the love of her life. Her world is turned upside down one fateful and frigid January night when her farm is raided and she is taken to the Cherokee County Jail/J-Pod and held without bail for 30 days when Evan's grow house and redneck network is discovered.
Home Grown takes you behind locked doors into the bubble of incarceration in the rural North Georgia Cherokee County Jail, women's section, J-Pod. A young woman's hopes and dreams shattering and a stark reality coming into focus.
This wild story winds it's way through real time events and incorporates letters from Tess, Evan, and Tess's 80 year old Mother trying to cope with this tragic circumstance pulling from their faith and strong love for one another!