Deputy director of investigations to leave GBI

Russell E. ‘Rusty’ Andrews will join Norfolk Southern.

One of the top officials at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said he is retiring from the agency.

Russell E. “Rusty” Andrews, a deputy director in charge of the investigative division, announced his decision Friday, he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Andrews, 52, said he’ll be joining Norfolk Southern Railway in what he called “a second career.”

Andrews’ move comes as one of his former direct subordinates, Sandra Putnam, is charged with racketeering, accused of using state purchasing cards for about $87,000 in personal buys.

Putnam resigned in August instead of being fired. Andrews said he had no knowledge of her alleged misdeeds, and called the juxtaposition of events “just a matter of timing.”

And he said he could be a witness in the investigation.

“I’m not being asked or encouraged to retire,” Andrews said. “I have my share of detractors out there,” who he declined to name, “and a group of people see this as an opportunity to make it into something it’s not.”

His last day at the GBI will be Oct. 14. He has been in charge of the investigative division since 2008, according to the GBI website.

Andrews, who started at the agency in 1988, said he has been eligible for retirement from the GBI for two years and that he was “stuck in place” at the agency.

He said he initially applied to the railway last November, and he renewed the discussions recently at a conference in Savannah when he learned they had a position open.

After 10 years with the railway, he would be eligible for a “second retirement.”

Andrews’ replacement will be Scott Dutton, the GBI’s head of public affairs, the agency announced Tuesday. Nelly Miles, now the deputy director of public affairs, will replace Dutton.