Chatham County sheriff charges deputy, fires 2 more in jail death

SAVANNAH — A Georgia sheriff said Thursday he arrested one of his deputies on charges of falsifying records and fired two others in connection with the death of a jail inmate.

Lee Michael Creely, 34, was declared dead after deputies found him unresponsive Sunday at the Chatham County jail in Savannah. Sheriff John Wilcher said he doesn’t know how Creely died, but an internal investigation found three deputies weren’t making their required rounds to check on inmates every 30 minutes.

The sheriff said investigators also found one of the deputies, Terence Jamal Jackson, made false entries in log books 10 times over a three-day period to make it appear he had completed his rounds when video from jail security cameras showed he had stayed at his desk.

“I’m not going to tolerate it,” Wilcher told a news conference. “We’ve got a job to do here and these people need to be treated humanely.”

Jackson was charged with a felony count of falsifying records. It was not immediately known if he had an attorney to represent him.

An attorney for Creely’s family, Will Claiborne, called the firings and criminal charges “a step in the right direction.” But he also called on the sheriff and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to release all information they’ve obtained about Creely’s death.

“The family has no idea how or why Mr. Creely died,” Claiborne said . “Being kept in the dark has only served to deepen their hurt and anguish.”