Ballot Question on Glynn Top Cop

– Thursday, April 25, 2024 –

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Good morning. In this week’s public safety newsletter, we’re reporting on an increase in federal cases against Coastal Georgia landlords violating discrimination laws, an investigative series on the lingering effects and broken promises of the Glynn County police drug unit scandal, and an upcoming ballot question on the Glynn County sheriff.

Questions, comments or story ideas? Reach out to staff@thecurrentga.org.

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COURTS

Landlord misconduct targeted

Federal prosecutors are taking on more cases against Coastal Georgia landlords who sexually harass, unlawfully evict or discriminate against their tenants.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia has filed three cases across Chatham and Liberty counties related to violations of the Fair Housing Act since August 2023, an increase from years prior, according to a search of cases by The Current.

The FHA was originally passed in 1968 primarily to make it illegal to refuse to sell or rent homes to Black people, but the law was later amended to include sex and other classifications.

Last August, prosecutors filed a civil claim against Iraj Shambayati, a Chatham County landlord over 70 properties, who allegedly pressured female tenants to “engage in sexual acts with him” in exchange for keeping rental housing, discounts on rent or providing maintenance, according to court documents. Shambayati also allegedly evicted those who refused his advances or complained.

• On Wednesday, prosecutors filed a proposed consent decree which would require Shambayati to take training, never set foot on his properties without government consent, and hire a third-party management company to oversee the them. Under the order, however, Shambayati gets to maintain that agreeing to the order is “not an admission of liability.”

The other two cases involve the Hinesville Housing Authority, for allegations it wrongfully evicted a low-income tenant for non-rent payment, and the Woodlands at Montgomery apartment complex in Savannah, for accusations it refused to accommodate a low-income tenant with a disability. Those cases are still pending.

“The leadership and staff of the U.S. Attorney’s Office strive to be vigilant in our work to uphold the rule of law in the Southern District of Georgia, and that includes safeguarding fair housing rights for all,” Southern District of Georgia U.S. Attorney Jill E. Steinberg said in a statement to The Current.

Noteable: This week, Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law new minimum protections for tenants in defunct rental properties.

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INVESTIGATIVE SERIES

Impact on cases by convicted cops

Within the same week that Ahmaud Arbery was killed in Brunswick in 2020, an indictment against senior police leaders signaled fallout and accountability pertaining to drug unit misconduct within the Glynn County Police Department. Issues of racial injustice and biased policing inflamed the county and caught the nation’s attention.

It’s a story many in Glynn are familiar with.

But after the sustained attention due to Arbery’s death, his killers’ convictions, and the hiring of new police chiefs and election of a new district attorney, the story of the Glynn-Brunswick Narcotics Enforcement Team (GBNET) faded from memory.

That is, until, The Current discovered lists of hundreds of criminal cases, compiled by the former DA, which were meant to be reviewed to find out whether the unit’s rampant police misconduct infected their outcomes. The Current‘s 15-month investigation published this week, revealing that scores of people were never informed that their cases could have been reviewed “and the officers of court who have the authority to decide whether their convictions were based on tainted evidence have ignored the issue.”

Read more from this series of investigative reporting here.

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ELECTION, PUBLIC SAFETY

Who should oversee Glynn law enforcement?

Speaking of Glynn County policing, the long-debated question of who should run law enforcement countywide will be on the ballot on May 21 … sort of.

Republican voters in Glynn will get the chance to answer a “party ballot question,” which lets the local GOP know what voter priorities are.

“We are not taking a position for or against. However, having said that, the reason we’ve posed the question is because the Republican platform seeks to have streamlined government, low taxes,” Glynn County GOP Chairman Patrick Duncan said, “So it begs the question, does it make sense to combine all law enforcement under one organization?”

The long-running issue pertains to Sheriff Neal Jump, who believes the issues with county policing could be fixed and centralized with him at the helm. County Commissioner Allen Booker, the only Black member of the county board, has expressed grave concerns about Black residents’ seat at the table in county law enforcement should the sheriff take over.

Getting this issue on the ballot has been a point of contention before. Days after the GBNET indictments in February 2020, then-state Sen. William Ligon (R-Brunswick) introduced a bill into the legislature to put a referendum to abolish the police department on the 2020 ballot and “allow the Glynn County Sheriff’s Department to be the sole local law enforcement in the county.” Ligon was an ally of Jump’s — a review of campaign finance filings found Ligon donated $1,000 to Jump’s campaign in April 2019.

A judge blocked this from going through following a challenge from the county board of commissioners.

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