Agents probe Coffee County sheriff's office

Web posted May 10, 2000

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By Terry Dickson
Morris News Service

DOUGLAS, Ga. -- FBI and Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents pored over documents Monday at the Coffee County Sheriff's Department as they executed a search warrant to view files involving drug cases.

Bill Butler, special agent in charge of the GBI's Douglas office, said only, ``We're executing a warrant.''

Coffee County Sheriff Carlton Evans said his officers are cooperating with the agents as they continue operations.

Sheriff Evans said the search warrant may be a continuation of an investigation in neighboring Irwin County that resulted in the arrest of three high-ranking Coffee County deputies on charges of growing marijuana.

Maj. Benjamin Hodge, 36, former chief deputy, was arrested Oct. 20, and Capt. Wayne Harper, who supervised the uniformed division, was arrested Nov. 1. Lt. John Lee, a patrol supervisor, was arrested Nov. 24. All three are free on bond and are on unpaid administrative leave.

Five civilians also were arrested, authorities said.

Agent Butler was among more than a dozen state and federal agents who were searching the administrative offices at the law enforcement complex.

Glass panels in office doors were marked with yellow and black police tape warning that the area was a crime scene.

The agents were examining documents in files and on computers and were looking for information on confidential informants and their pay, Sheriff Evans said. The agents also were searching for information on a particular marijuana investigation, the department's policy and procedures for operating a drug investigation office at the airport and documents on the destruction of marijuana taken as evidence, he said.