Varnell, Georgia, Police Chief Lyle Grant is under criminal investigation for giving an unencrypted radio to the owner of a local wrecker business.
According to a Whitfield County Sheriff's Office incident report, an anonymous source contacted the detectives division on Monday, alleging that Grant gave a radio to Robert Wesley Cummings, the owner of Bob's Wrecker Service. Cummings and Grant later confirmed the rumor to an investigator.
The county bought the radio for $5,200. The city of Varnell was responsible for maintaining it. Grant, who did not return multiple calls seeking comment this week, could be on the hook for a charge of theft by conversion and reckless conduct, according to the sheriff's office.
"Chief Grant also stated that he didn't know he couldn't loan out his equipment that he pays for," an investigator wrote in an incident report this week. "Sgt. Jones asked Chief Grant if he knew that the radio he loaned out had secretive channels on it and he said he did not. Chief Grant was not able to tell Sgt. Jones how long Cummings had had the radio in his possession."
Staff photo by Erin O. Smith / Varnell Police Chief Lyle Grant, on the right, listens as Mayor Anthony Hulsey reads a letter on behalf of a local businessman Tuesday, July 25, 2017, at the Varnell City Gym in Varnell, Ga. The Varnell City Council were meeting to decide whether or not to eliminate its police department, but there weren't enough council members in attendance for a quorum.The sheriff's office turned the case over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday. The special agent in charge of the GBI's northwest region did not return a call or text message seeking comment this week.
Cummings told the Times Free Press he could not comment, on the advice of his attorney. He declined to say who his attorney is.
"I am avoiding any phone calls right now," he said. "I am not going to comment on any of this while the investigation is going on."
City Manager Mike Brown said Grant"s job status has not changed. He wants to wait to hear from the GBI and Conasauga Judicial Circuit District Attorney Bert Poston about whether Grant committed a crime. The city's next council meeting is April 9 at 6 p.m.
According to the incident report, Cummings told investigators that he asked Grant for a police radio so he could stay on top of wrecks in the community. This would be more efficient for his private business than hiring an employee to field phone calls from the office.
The investigator wrote that "a large majority" of channels that were supposed to be encrypted were open to Cummings, but the "narcotics" channel was closed. The investigator wrote that investigators still communicate with the sheriff's office drug unit on other channels on the radio.
In addition to the potential criminal charges, Mayor Tom Dickson said the investigation raised a concern that Grant could have violated city policy by providing a business with public property for their personal gain. He said the city's attorney was reviewing the incident.
"This was not authorized," Dickson said. "It's not something to do."
Councilman David Owens said Friday that he knew few details about the case.
"We don't know what the actual charge will be," he said. "We don't know if it will be dismissed. We don't know if it will go to court or trial. We don't know anything."
In 2017, Owens and two other council members voted to disband the police department after an internal investigation into how Grant handled a complaint against another member of the council. Then-mayor Anthony Hulsey vetoed the measure. After council member Andrea Azzouz resigned amid accusations that she no longer resided within city limits, the council failed to vote on the issue again.
Another city council member, Ashlee Godfrey, who was against disbanding the police department, walked out of an August meeting when the council tried to vote. She argued the council no longer had enough elected officials present to constitute a quorum.
Varnell is a small city north of Dalton, with a population of about 1,800 inside 3.4 square miles.
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-757-6476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.