Jailor arrested, accused of theft
DBell@CalhounTimes.com
The Gordon County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday that one of its employees has been fired and arrested and is accused of taking about $6,000 worth of bond money.
According to jail reports, Jonathan Wayne Lovings, 30, of 217 Blackwood Court S.E., Calhoun, was arrested by the Gordon County Sheriff’s Office and charged with four counts of theft by taking and one count of violation of oath by public officer.
Sheriff Mitch Ralston reported the following on his website Tuesday:
On March 4, during the routine transfer of cash bonds from the sheriff’s office to the court system, a discrepancy involving a cash bond from a traffic offence was discovered. That discrepancy triggered an internal audit in which several other cash bonds were found to be missing.
All of the missing cash bonds involved the same jail staff employee, Lovins, who was sergeant.
On March 9, Lovins was suspended from duty and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) was requested to investigate the matter. On March 20, GBI agents executed a search warrant at Lovins’ home. That same day, his employment was terminated.
On Monday, warrants were issued by the GBI charging Lovins with four counts of theft by taking by fiduciary and one count of violation of oath of office by a public official. All of these offenses are felonies.
That same evening Lovins turned himself in to the Gordon County jail where he was booked subsequently released on a $25,000 bond. The investigation revealed that each theft incident involved cash bonds from out-of-state violators
JAILOR,
and totals approximately $6,000. Before his suspension and termination, Lovins
was an ordinary employee with no history of disciplinary problems.
“As sheriff, my foremost duty is to police my own staff. It is a shame that Mr. Lovins made the very bad decisions that led to his ter
mination and arrest. We moved swiftly and resolutely to resolve this problem,” said Ralston. “No law enforcement agency can maintain the trust of the people they serve if misconduct is tolerated. Mr. Lovins violated a
position of trust and is being
held accountable for his
actions.”