A state oversight agency is undertaking a formal probe into allegations of what accusers say was “willful” financial misconduct by Brunswick Area District Attorney Keith Higgins.
In a letter to officials in the counties that make up the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, the Prosecuting Attorney’s Qualifications Commission said it had voted April 29 to authorize a “full investigation” into claims of financial malfeasance by Higgins since he entered office in January 2021.
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Current GA, does not detail the allegations against Higgins.
But according to the complaint submitted to the commission last June and first reported by The Current, the district’s counties of Glynn, Camden, Wayne, Appling and Jeff Davis claimed that Higgins had engaged in a “sustained pattern of conduct that reflects willful disregard of statutory duties, persistent fiscal mismanagement, lack of financial oversight, and the diversion and misuse of public funds.”
Contacted by The Current on Friday for comment, Higgins said, “The process is supposed to be confidential, and the fact that the county is making this public shows that this is politically motivated.”
Higgins, a Republican who won the race for district attorney in 2020 with promises of reform following the murder of Ahmaud Arbery earlier that year, neither confirmed nor denied receiving a letter from the commission requesting his response to the allegations. He also said he had no comment on any pending investigation.
Glynn County’s communications director, Brittany Dozier, told The Current that the county was not “at liberty to discuss the complaint or any circumstances related to the matter at this time.”
Under the commission guidelines, a subject of investigation has 30 days to respond following initial notification. After the subject of an investigation responds, the investigation can still be dismissed, referred to another agency or “disciplined by consent.” The panel does not disclose timelines for the completion of investigations.
Sufficient evidence
Legislation creating the Prosecuting Attorney’s Qualifications Commission was signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2023. Under the law, the panel is empowered to discipline district attorneys and solicitors general for alleged misconduct in office, including removal from office, or refer them to the courts for any criminal proceeding.
The panel’s establishment was part of a nationwide effort by Republicans to rein in district attorneys they deem too lenient and ineffective.
Full investigations are authorized when the commission director — in this case, Ian Heap — determines that there is sufficient evidence to support the allegations or that sufficient evidence can be obtained through a full investigation.
The commission’s investigative panel relies on Heap and his staff to screen, investigate, and make recommendations on complaints. The panel can direct Heap to file formal charges with the three-member hearing panel. The hearing panel presides over the trial of the case and may dismiss the charges, resolve them by consent, or impose sanctions, including removal from office.
By the end of 2025, Georgia’s commission had decided to proceed with full investigations of only four of the 140 complaints it received during the year. Of that number, 44 were at the screening or preliminary investigation stage. One official, Washington County’s solicitor general, resigned last year in the wake of an investigation by the panel.
Two years of disagreements
The formal notification of an investigation into Higgins’ management of the district attorney’s office is the latest in a nearly two-year struggle between the office and the counties over budget disbursements.
The forensic audit, first reported by The Current, found that Higgins exceeded his office’s budget by nearly $1 million. The accountants uncovered a series of purportedly fraudulent expenditures by Barbara Baucum, the former office manager for the prosecutor. Last September, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation opened a probe into Baucum’s conduct.
Higgins, a Republican, beat John B. Johnson by 25% of the vote in the 2024 GOP primary and ran unopposed. He is the only known Republican under formal investigation by the commission since it was created.
