ROME, Ga. – Federal prosecutors say former Murray County sheriff’s deputy Joshua Greeson received a call from former Magistrate Bryant Cochran days before Greeson arrested a woman who accused the judge of soliciting her for sex.
During a plea hearing for Greeson on Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffery Davis said cellphone records show Cochran called Greeson five days before the deputy arrested Angie Garmley in August after finding a magnetic can filled with methamphetamine in the wheel well of her car during a traffic stop.
Garmley had accused the judge of sexual misconduct, which led to an ethics investigation. Cochran resigned the day after Garmley was arrested as a result of the ethics inquiry.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation later said the drugs had been planted, and charges against Garmley were dropped. Authorities have not said who planted the drugs.
Greeson pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in Rome, Ga., to one count of aiding and abetting the obstruction of justice for lying to GBI agents about Garmley’s arrest.