Gary Sisk
McCracken "Ken" Poston, Brent Marsh's attorney, from Ringgold
On Friday, Feb. 22, attorney McCracken Poston of Ringgold sent a letter to Sisk requesting that he ask the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in to evaluate whether deputies gave special treatment or made exceptions for FBI agent Ken Hillman during the past year and a half.
According to Poston, Hillman has abused his authority as an FBI agent to get out of possible DUIs.
Hillman, who is being investigated by the FBI for his actions, has been head of the Northwest Georgia Crimes Against Children Task Force for the past few years.
The task force consists of undercover officers who communicate with people online through chat rooms and ads looking to weed out those looking arrange meetings for underage sex.
The FBI has declined to comment on the matter. “Per policy, the FBI does not comment on personnel matters,” special agent Stephen Emmett, a spokesman for the FBI’s field office in Atlanta, said Thursday.
In his letter, Poston alleges that agent Hillman was pulled over at least twice by Catoosa County sheriff’s deputies under suspicion of drinking and driving, but was either allowed to call a friend to come and get him, or was allowed to go completely.
Sisk, in a prepared statement Wednesday morning, insisted that his agency has done nothing wrong, and that he will not ask the GBI to investigate.
“Mr. Poston did not allege any wrongdoing involving employees of the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office,” Sisk said in the statement. “These matters have to do with alleged indiscretions, policy and procedural violations involving agent Hillman.”
Sisk, a newly elected sheriff who took office in January, said Poston should express his concerns to the FBI rather than his office or the GBI.
“Any issues Mr. Poston may have with agent Hillman should be addressed with the Federal Bureau of Investigations,” he said. “It is my understanding that they are conducting an internal investigation at his request. Neither the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office nor the Georgia Bureau of Investigations investigate policy and/or procedural violations of Federal Agents or get involved in civil divorce cases. I do not feel that this is a wise expense of the taxpayer’s money when it does not affect the duty of my office.”
Agent Hillman has fallen under scrutiny in the past couple of weeks after an investigation by the Ringgold Police Departmet revealed that Hillman allegedly abused his authority in late October when then-Ringgold police sergeant Tom Evans was called to Acoustic Café in Ringgold regarding a possible DUI involving Hillman. Evans gave Hillman and two women a ride to a condominium in Chattanooga, Tenn., Evans said during the investigation.
Ringgold police chief Dan Bilbrey fired Evans following the two-week internal investigation that revealed Evans failed to follow protocol, failed to file a report of the incident, and ignored directives from his superiors.
Evans admitted during that investigation that he was granting Hillman a favor and that he did not file a report on the incident at Hillman’s request.
Poston said that his letter to Sisk was requesting a similar investigation into whether similar courtesies had been extended to Hillman by Catoosa County sheriff’s deputies.
Poston, in a prepared statement Wednesday afternoon, responded to Sisk’s prepared statement.
“The information regarding these traffic stops must be pretty hot for the Sheriff’s office to try to shut it down like this,” Poston said. “His (Sisk’s) reluctance to conduct his office with transparency is troubling.”
Juvenile Judges don't "represent" juvenile offenders.They decide cases before them (hopefully) impartially,with the stricture that they must do what is in the best interest of the juvenile. The law assumes that this protection must be in place because juveniles (almost by definition) do not yet know what is in their long term best interest.
As an attorney, Mr. Poston takes cases of people that seek his help.(Just like Matlock or Perry Mason).But unlike on TV,he's not privy to what happened before the first commercial break.If a defendant tells him he didn't do it,an attorney (if he takes the case) has to take him at his word and buld a case theron.Again, I hope that this never happens to you.If it does,and you're sitting in a jailhouse,you'll hire an attorney to clear you. And unless that attorney started last week, he/she will have defended murderers,robbers,rapists,you name it. It comes with the territory.
Back in '05 or '06 (my memory is fuzzy on this one) a few jailers in Catoosa County were having a trifle with female inmates.Poston tried to get the (then) sheriff to look into it. It took a very public expose by Mr. Poston to get to the bottom of it,but he was right. Several jailers lost their jobs and at least one was prosecuted. This had the effect of exposing a sloppy,wasteful jail and a new administrator was brought in to clean things up.
Let's go arm in arm down memory lane again. Just last year, a magistrate in Gordon County tried to get some muskrat lovin' from a woman that wanted his protection from a threatening situation. He was crude and stupid all at once.(He even asked her to return to his office sans underwear) When this lady went public,the sheriffs office down there tried to frame her with some planted drugs in order to discredit her story.She called Ken Poston and he took on a very powerful entity on this woman's behalf.She was not rich or connected,but he went to work for her and proved that the cops down there committed a CRIME to protect this judge.(I believe that they are awaiting trial,not sure).
Now.Sheriff Sisk could get to the bottom of this in an hour if he was a real leader. If he doesn't have enough control over his department to have the records searched and ask a few employees some direct questions and get straight answers, then he may not be cut out for the top job in law enforcement in our county. Until he gives some straight answers to these questions and stops hiding behind "Not Our Job To Find Out" ,then I will assume that he doesn't want us to know the truth.A truth that could be embarassing to a good,honest sheriff's department.
And don't think that this isn't germane.When a sharp lawyer finds a chink in the armor of a cop in a courtroom,lots of money is wasted on a futile prosecution. And a guilty man could skate free because our sheriff won't follow the truth wherever it leads. (Think of Tonya Craft's lawyer slicing and dicing the sloppy prosecution a couple of years back.If the Child Predator Task Force is compromised by this,some really dangerous characters could walk because our sheriff says "It's Not My Job")
If something embarassing is going to be learned eventually,better that it be learned immediately.