BRUNSWICK, Ga. — It all started with a rumor.
The Glynn Brunswick Narcotics Enforcement Team, the celebrated unit that for more than a decade was keeping the county safe from drugs, wasn’t as heroic as the county police and commissioners had led the public to believe.
A SERIES
- PART 1: In Brunswick, drug cops have been convicted. A prosecutor has been indicted. But hundreds of people caught in their maw have been forgotten.
- PART 2: GBNET defendants didn’t know they could get cases reviewed.
- PART 3: A timeline of misconduct within the now-disbanded Glynn County drug squad
- PART 4: Lack of review snags hundreds arrested by now-disbanded task force
A host of officers, including James Cassada, were repeatedly violating police protocols meant to ensure that evidence and arrests were of the highest standards. And their superiors had for years allowed a cowboy culture to flourish, one in which there was little oversight. Policies regarding confidential informants, routine paperwork and even jurisdictional boundaries were often ignored.
Defense lawyers and law enforcement agencies in neighboring counties raised complaints. But Glynn police officials long ignored those suspicions — even after the rare occasions when they spilled into public view.
On a crisp November evening in 2018, a GBNET unit that included Cassada mustered in the strip mall parking lot outside of Brunswick’s Wee Pub for a sting operation. When the team entered the bar, however, the operation unraveled.
A patron who was drinking along with one of Cassada’s informants started shouting accusations that Cassada was sleeping with the female CI.
The allegations of such a gross violation of police policy would, in most other police departments, spark an immediate investigation — and possible disciplinary action. In Glynn County, however, police left the bar, dropped the woman known as CI#16 from rotation the following day and continued business as usual.
More than a year later, a member of GBNET who was preparing for trial, found recorded statements from a second informant in which the woman claimed her control officer was routinely breaking the law with her by doing drugs and having sex with her. That officer, Meredith Tolley, blew the whistle. Events that followed led to the downfall of the unit in 2019 — and to the indictment of multiple officers, including former Police Chief John Powell, as well as the conviction of three cops.
A judge ordered an index of cases that could be tainted by police misconduct. But five years later, only a handful of the more than 500 cases flagged by the former district attorney have been reviewed and had charges dismissed. Many of the approximately 450 individuals convicted in those flagged cases have no idea they could have an opportunity for legal relief, according to a 15-month investigation by The Current.
The possibility for legal review could hinge on who in the unit knew about the illegal behavior and when.
Here’s a select timeline of GBNET conduct — and misconduct.
December 2013
James Cassada joins GBNET as a member of the Glynn County Police Department.
February 2014
Confidential Informant #13 begins working for Cassada.
May 18, 2017
Confidential Informant #16 begins working for Cassada. She assists him with multiple drug investigations. She alleges that they had sex twice in his car.
September 2017
John Powell becomes acting Glynn County Police Chief.
Nov. 8, 2017
GBNET prepares for a sting operation at Brunswick’s Wee Pub, a bar on the city’s northern edge. CI#16 is with a girlfriend at the pub, and when the officers enter, the girlfriend publicly accuses Cassada of having sex with the CI. The altercation causes the cops to abort their operation. CI #16’s brother, a member of GBNET, was at the scene.
Nov. 9, 2017
The confidential informant is deactivated. Cassada isn’t reprimanded or investigated.
Nov. 15, 2017
Cassada checks into a hotel for two days, where he stays with one of his confidential informants, CI#13. Cassada leaves home after his wife, Hope, contacts a second informant — CI#16 — and she is told of their affair.
Hope tells her husband’s superior, Officer David Hassler, as well as two partners, Dustin Davis, and Dustin Simpson, about the allegations of her husband using drugs and sleeping with his informants.
Dec. 4, 2017
James Cassada goes into rehab for alcoholism.
January 2018
John Powell named as new Glynn County Police Chief, after working as interim chief for several weeks.
Jan. 30, 2018
Cassada returns to work with no restrictions.
He is assigned to the GBNET squad participating in a yearlong operation called “Operation Déjà Vu.”
October 2018
One of Cassada’s informants sells drugs to another informant who was a target of Deja Vu. Cassada asks a fellow GBNET officer not to arrest his CI.
Nov. 7, 2018
Glynn County Police Chief John Powell announces the arrest of 58 people as part of Operation Deja Vu, a result Powell describes as “a major, major success.”
Cassada arrests Gary Whittle after a tipoff by one of his informants.
Jan. 17, 2019
Whittle pleads guilty to possession and is sentenced to 20 years of probation, but shortly afterward learns that Glynn County police are investigating Cassada.
Jan 30, 2019
GBNET officer Meredith Tolley reviews taped testimony of a confidential informant who says she had a sexual relationship with the unnamed investigator. The informant says she distributed and used narcotics with that investigator.
Feb 1, 2019
Tolley reports the contents of this interview to her superiors. The information is passed to Chief Powell and Assistant District Attorney Liberty Stewart. Glynn County police chief of staff Brian Scott begins to investigate Cassada. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is notified.
Feb. 8, 2019
Cassada resigns instead of submitting to interviews with the Internal Affairs investigation.
Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson tells local journalists that Cassada’s misconduct could affect the outcome of “a couple of hundred cases” against drug dealers arrested by GBNET (Brunswick News, April 20, 2019).
Feb. 12, 2019
Whittle’s lawyer files a motion to rescind his plea deal. He says when he agreed to the deal officers were aware of misconduct by Cassada and that the prosecution failed to disclose that to defense counsel, a constitutional violation.
March 2019
Judge Roger Lane starts hearings regarding Whittle’s motion.
The internal affairs report against Cassada, meanwhile, expands to include his conduct with four female confidential informants — CI#13; CI#14; CI#18; and CI#16.
March 14, 2019
Judge Lane issues an unusual order: he demands an index of cases worked by five GBNET officers from Jan. 2017 – Feb. 2019 and cases involving three informants. The officers named are Cassada, Davis, Simpson, Hassler and David Haney.
The time frame reflects allegations of police misconduct that were mentioned during the Whittle court hearings. Although the police internal affairs report was not yet finished, the judge never broadened the remit of the order.
April 1, 2019
Chief Powell announces the disbanding of GBNET.
May 28, 2019
Judge Lane rules in favor of Whittle, allowing him to withdraw his plea deal. His ruling says that GCPD suppressed evidence that would have called into question the arresting officer’s credibility and veracity as a witness. He also declares all five officers as impeached witnesses.
June 4, 2019
DA Jackie Johnson emails the first list responsive to Judge Lane’s order to index potential cases affected by police misconduct. It has 33 cases involving 32 people who had been sentenced to prison after police work conducted by Cassada.
July 11, 2019
DA Johnson sends a second email containing two more lists of flagged cases to county lawyers. These lists focus on cases where defendants were sentenced to probation, rather than prison. Neither list addresses the other four police officers named in Judge Lane’s order.
July 19, 2019
Cassada pleads guilty to one count of violating his oath of office for having sex with CIs and is sentenced to ten years probation. He agrees to testify against fellow officers. He does not face drug charges or spend a day in jail.
February 26th, 2020
A grand jury empaneled urges more investigations into GBNET conduct. The grand jury makes reference to Judge Lane’s ruling that all five GBNET officers were impeached witnesses.
Feb. 27, 2020
Four days after Ahmaud Arbery’s murder, Chief Powell, his chief of staff Brian Scott and two other officers, Haney and Hassler are indicted.
Jan. 11, 2021
Chief Powell is fired. He and Scott are awaiting trial.
Sept. 2, 2021
Jackie Johnson is indicted on charges of abusing her oath of office for allegedly attempting to keep two of the three murderers of Ahmaud Arbery out of jail.
February 2023
Officers Haney and Hassler plead guilty to one misdemeanor. They lose their police credentials but never spend a day in jail.
May 2023
Superior Court Judge Anthony Harrison ends Cassada’s probation six years early. Cassada’s lawyer takes advantage of Georgia’s First Offender Act. As a result, his conviction is now hidden from most standard background checks.
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