SHERIFF'S OFFICE TO SEE IF DEPUTY'S GUN USED IN ANY CRIMES

Ballistics tests are being run on a Fulton County Sheriff's Department gun
that was found in a drug house earlier this month. Its owner, a sergeant in
the department, was fired after testing positive for cocaine.

Sgt. Angelo Willoughby, 36, was fired March 17 after his drug test came
back positive. Sheriff Jacquelyn Barrett said she ordered the test after
Willoughby's gun was discovered March 5 during a drug raid at a crack house
on James P. Brawley Drive.

Barrett said they are conducting ballistics tests to find out if the
county-issued .40-caliber Beretta was used to commit any crimes. She said
she first noticed Willoughby without a gun in February. When questioned
about it, Willoughby told her he had misplaced his weapon during a move and
was looking for it. She gave him a week to find it.

Atlanta police found it first.

Police were executing a search warrant on a known drug house when they came
across the weapon, Barrett said. A police report of the incident shows that
during the search of the apartment, police confiscated more than $5,600 in
cash, a large amount of cocaine and heroin and several guns. A man and
woman in the apartment were charged with trafficking in cocaine, possession
of heroin with the intent to distribute and possession of a weapon during
the commission of a crime.

Barrett said the gun was easily identifiable.

"All of our weapons are engraved with Fulton County Sheriff's Department on
them," she said. "It's kind of a dead giveaway."

Atlanta police notified the Sheriff's Department of the find, department
officials traced the gun to Willoughby, and Barrett ordered him to take a
drug test. At first he refused, but then relented. The test came back
positive.

Willoughby was about one month shy of his 18th year with the department,
officials said. Barrett said he worked as a floor supervisor at the county
jail. She said while he had some negative marks in his file, overall he was
considered "a fairly stable employee."

"He's had some personal problems we were aware of, but nothing that would
lead us to believe he had a drug problem," Barrett said.

Sheriff's spokesman Capt. David Chadd said the two people arrested at the
drug house were shown a picture of Willoughby, and both denied knowing him
or having seen him. Barrett said that still leaves the department with the
troubling question of how the sergeant's gun ended up there and how it's
been used.

"We certainly hope the weapon wasn't traded for drugs, which would be very
disturbing," Barrett said.