CANDIDATE FOR TWIGGS SHERIFF HAS TROUBLED HISTORY

JEFFERSONVILLE - A former Macon police officer, fired in 1995 for the
improper handling of seized drug money, is hoping to replace his father as
Twiggs County sheriff.

Greg Stone, 35, also has been investigated twice by the state agency that
certifies law enforcement officers.

Qualifying is still two weeks away. Stone has campaign signs in yards and
elections cards in businesses around the county asking people to vote for
him. The office is currently held by his father, Doyle Stone, who has
decided not to seek another term.

According to Macon Police Department records obtained under the Georgia
Open Records Act, Greg Stone and Parrish Witherspoon were terminated from
their jobs as officers for:

. "unbecoming conduct" for deceiving the Warner Robins Police Department
about taking $5,000 from a crime scene outside their jurisdiction;

. failure to properly process evidence;

. failure to follow proper arrest, search and seizure procedure, by failing
to count the money once it was seized or give the suspect a receipt of the
seized funds;

. and unsatisfactory performance.

Investigators also determined that Stone and Witherspoon did not file a
report on the seized cash until several days after police started asking
about its whereabouts, records show.

Neither man was criminally charged. Stone's law enforcement certification
was suspended for three months and he was placed on two years' probation,
according to the Georgia Peace Officers Standards Council (POST) in Atlanta.

Stone has failed for two months to respond to numerous phone requests and
visits to the Twiggs County sheriff's department by The Telegraph. Stone
also agreed to an interview with The Telegraph in February but did not show
up for that appointment.

Witherspoon has not returned phone calls for comment.

Doyle Stone, sheriff for 16 years, has declined to comment about his son's
tenure with Macon police. He said he hired Greg because he was a good
officer. Greg Stone has worked as a road deputy in Twiggs County since May
8, 1996, according to the POST.

"I had an opening, and he was (a) good man to hire," Doyle Stone said.

A questionable seizure

Stone and Witherspoon were working as Macon drug investigators on Feb. 18,
1995, when they arrested Eddie and Shay Dean on suspicion that they
transported methamphetamines to a Bibb County home.

According to recorded interviews with Macon police internal affairs in
1995, Greg Stone said he received a tip that the Deans were bringing drugs
to a home outside the Macon city limits.

Stone said he contacted the Bibb County Sheriff's Office for assistance,
but deputies were not present during the arrest.

"I was assuming they were behind us," Stone said. "I didn't see them out
there when we actually took (the Deans) down, but like I said, we contacted
them earlier and gave them the situation we had."

Eddie Dean told investigators that Stone asked if he had any money at his
house. When Eddie Dean told him about the $5,000 at his home, he said,
Stone promised to drop the charges against his wife in exchange for the money.

Eddie Dean said he agreed to show the two officers where the money was.
Once inside the Warner Robins house, Eddie Dean said, Stone went into the
kitchen and got the money out of a sock hidden in a grits box.

He said Stone gave him $40 out of the $5,000 before taking him to the Bibb
County Law Enforcement Center.

In the recorded interviews, Stone denied making any agreement with Eddie
Dean about the money. He said he filed the proper paperwork and then
contacted the Warner Robins Police Department about meeting them at the
Deans' home to search it.

On March 7, 1995, Shay Dean went to the Warner Robins Police Department and
asked for the money.

Warner Robins Police Capt. Harry Dennard said he called Macon police and
was told that "a little meth, a car and around $5,000 was confiscated in
the case."

He said he told Macon police that Stone and Witherspoon "didn't get it out
of the house."

"I told them we didn't find anything in the house," Dennard said in a 1995
interview with Macon internal affairs. "I was quite flabbergasted to find
out about the money."

Macon police officials later said the officers turned in $4,190, but Stone
and Witherspoon denied keeping any of the money or not following proper
procedure.

Under police policy, officers must drop seized money into a bank night
deposit box used by the department.

"Who actually put the money in the night deposit, I don't recall," Stone
told interviewers four months after the arrest. "If this was something that
happened last week, I would have remembered."

Although the officers said they immediately wrote a report on the seized
money, internal affairs investigators determined the report was not filed
until March 13, 1995, more than three weeks after the arrest and six days
after Shay Dean inquired about the money.

In December 1995, the two officers were suspended with pay. They were later
fired, and prosecution on more than two dozen of their cases - including
the charges against the Deans - was dropped. The money was returned to the
Deans after their cases were dismissed.

Last week, the Deans said they have moved on with their lives and have had
no contact with law enforcement since that time. They declined further
comment about the case.

Neither Stone nor Witherspoon were criminally charged, prosecutors said.

"To the best of my memory, I don't think (the police) ever sent us a file
on the case," said Macon Judicial Circuit assistant district attorney Kim
Schwartz.

"It was the general consensus at the time that there was a lack of evidence
in the case," Schwartz said. "Some of the main witnesses were the
defendants (Eddie and Shay Dean) themselves."

Former Macon Police Chief James Avera, who led the department at the time,
said he remembers the case, but cannot remember if the case was sent on to
the district attorney's office for consideration.

Stone told state law enforcement investigators in 1996 he resigned from the
Macon Police Department, according to records with the POST.

But Avera said he also cannot remember ever signing a resignation letter
for Stone.

"It's been many years, and I actually don't recall," Avera said.

A state investigation

When Stone and Witherspoon were terminated from the Macon Police
Department, a record of their dismissal was sent to POST, the state agency
that regulates law enforcement officers.

Although POST initially recommended that Stone's certification be revoked,
state records show his case continued for eight months, and he finally
entered into an agreement to serve three months suspension and two years'
probation.

"If an officer is suspended by POST, his authority to arrest, work as a
police officer is void during the suspension period," Wayne Melton,
director of the POST investigative division, said. "He can work as a jailer
or as a clerk, but he cannot perform the duties of a law enforcement officer."

Records show Stone's case was settled Dec. 30, 1996, but correspondence in
the case continued for another five months. In an April 9, 1997, document
filed in the Office of State Administrative Hearings, a May 1997 hearing
was set to hear evidence in Stone's case.

Two weeks before the hearing, Stone and POST officials agreed to the
original terms of the settlement and the case appeared to have been
backdated to December of 1996 - after his three-month suspension was over.

Melton said Wednesday that he didn't understand how the case could have
continued after it was settled.

"The only thing I can see was that an agreement was made and it took time
to get the officer to sign and return the paper work," Melton said.

During that time, records show Greg Stone worked at the Twiggs County
Sheriff's Office. In a letter to POST, Doyle Stone said his son did not
perform any work as a law enforcement officer from Dec. 30, 1996, to March
29, 1997.

Run for sheriff

In his campaign literature, Greg Stone says he wants to be "a sheriff for
all people."

But his list of achievements and his 15 years of law enforcement experience
does not mention why he left the Macon Police Department.

"I have the experience and am committed to making a difference," Greg Stone
wrote. "I need your help to accomplish this goal ... please vote." He even
touts his intention to "take drugs head on" in Twiggs County.

Since joining his father's department, Greg Stone was the target of another
POST investigation.

In 2002, he and former Jeffersonville police officer Phyllis Hutchins were
charged with fighting. The criminal charges against Stone were later
dropped and, after a trial, Hutchins was acquitted of the charges against her.

After a POST investigation that led to an initial recommendation that
Stone's certification again be terminated, the case was later dropped.