UPDATE: The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office has confirmed the photo depicting an HCSO uniformed deputy in an active social media investigation is deputy Carl Ritchey. Ritchey has been on medical leave since May 28 and his status remains the same, according to a news release.
The investigation remains active. Ritchey could not immediately be reached for comment.
Original story:
The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office is investigating whether a threatening social media comment was posted by one of its deputies, calling Black Lives Matter protesters "target practice."
A Facebook post showing screenshots of the alleged deputy, who goes by CT Lee on Facebook, began circulating Friday morning. The screenshots purport to show a comment the person made on a post that read, "Black Lives Matter and Antifa Rioters Are Pulling People Out of Their Cars in Santa Monica, CA And Beating Them."
The account listed as Lee in the screen grab commented, "Target Practice."
The Facebook profile in question has since been taken down. Screenshots show a photo of a man, allegedly Lee, posing with a woman while wearing a Hamilton County Sheriff's Office uniform, badge and patch.
The sheriff's office was tagged multiple times in the post by community members and activists and has since opened a "fact finding investigation" and criminal and internal affairs investigations, and the office has enlisted the help of the local FBI office, according to a news release.
The Hamilton County District Attorney's Office has also been notified.
However, "There is not an employee who works at the HCSO by the name listed on the social media account. Therefore HCSO detectives are following all leads and utilizing forensic tools to identify and validate the source of the post," the news release states. "At this point, the suspect who placed the post has not been positively identified as an employee of the HCSO."
It's not clear whether investigators looked at the photo showing the man in a sheriff's office uniform.
When asked, spokeswoman Rachel Frizzell said, "This is an ongoing investigation, we do not have any additional information available at this time."
Sheriff Jim Hammond said in a statement, "This type of statement or conduct does not reflect our agency's mission or values, nor will it be tolerated."
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