Chatham DA Pleas for Funds

– Thursday, April 11, 2024 –

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Good morning. Today’s newsletter reports on systemic issues in Georgia’s foster care system putting children at risk, a plea for funds by Chatham County’s district attorney and updates from federal court on a Savannah oil company targeted by regulators and a convicted former police chief wanting to get off probation early.

Questions, comments or story ideas? Reach out to me — jake.shore@thecurrentga.org. Let’s dive in.

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NEWS

Report: Georgia fails children in foster care

A U.S. Senate investigation led by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) released a blistering report this week on failures at Georgia’s premiere child welfare agency to protect children in state custody from physical abuse and sexual exploitation.

One of the most astonishing statistics out of the 64-page investigative report found that nearly 2,000 children in custody of Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) were reported missing between 2018 and 2022, and at least 410 children were likely sex trafficked, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

“We know we have an urgent issue when children feel better on the streets or with a trafficker than they do with their foster care placement,” Dr. Samantha Sahl of NCMEC told the subcommittee at a November 2023 hearing.

The report documented deep issues in child welfare in Coastal Georgia, specifically in Glynn County. The DFCS office of Glynn County received complaints of children being sexually assaulted in two group homes in Brunswick, Morningstar and Safe Harbor, in 2021 but the county DFCS office dismissed the complaints without conducting any investigations, according to the report.

In 2022, a state oversight agency audited Glynn County’s DFCS office and found “severe internal office dysfunction … causing child safety not to be prioritized by staff.”

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NEWS

Chatham DA says funds are urgently needed

Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones is sounding the alarm to county commissioners for funding to keep her staff from leaving.

DA Cook Jones is facing a tough re-election campaign amid questions of mismanagement and understaffing. Her first challenger and former top aide is attorney Jenny Parker, who she will face in the May 21 Democratic primary election. In November, a Republican candidate, who also used to work under Cook Jones — Andre Pretorius, awaits whoever wins in May.

The agency has struggled with understaffing since taking office in 2021, and Cook Jones sought funding for more positions that year too, unsuccessfully. In a March 28 letter to commissioners, the DA asked for a one-time retention bonus for prosecutors using lapsed salary savings, maintaining temporary federal funds to keep on paralegals and not to downgrade her current vacant positions in salary.

In her letter, the DA attributes these problems to a poor climate for public safety jobs and low salaries set by the county, citing how four recent prosecutors have been poached by neighboring DA’s offices for higher pay and lower caseloads.

“Although we have been able to do more with less, the current course of action is not sustainable long term,” Cook Jones wrote.

Parker released a dueling news release a week later and blamed the agency’s staffing difficulties on poor management.

Parker “asserts that there are at least 12 experienced attorneys who have committed to returning to work in the Chatham County District Attorney’s office if she is elected,” the release said.

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COURTHOUSE BRIEFS

Coastal GA oil company targeted by feds

The Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are seeking $2.8 million in civil penalties from a major Savannah importer and producer of diesel and gasoline fuel, Colonial Oil Industries, Inc.

Colonial is the parent company for Enmarket and has oil facilities in Savannah and Jacksonville, Fla. According to the EPA, the company flouted rules meant to encourage the use of renewable fuels under an amendment to the Clean Air Act.

Colonial excluded over 100 million gallons of diesel from its calculations of how much fuel it produced, thereby failing to provide the required balance of fossil fuels and renewable fuels. In addition, Colonial produced a million gallons of gasoline that failed to comply with standards intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere and other impacts to human health, the EPA said.

The company, which did not return a Wednesday evening request for comment by The Current, has already signed on to a proposed consent decree from the government. The agreement is not final until the conclusion of a 30-day public comment period, which federal regulators will review before moving forward.

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Convicted chief’s request denied

The former Savannah Police Department chief who was convicted of taking money from a carnival operator to protect a gambling operation was denied early release from supervised release late last month.

A federal jury found former Chief Willie Lovett guilty after the government argued he was paid off by Randall Wayne “Red” Roach between 2004 and 2009, in order to keep police away from Roach’s gambling operation. The gambling business scammed unwitting customers by playing a game, like Razzle Dazzle, with no way of winning.

In February 2015, Lovett was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison, but was released early, in 2021. He then began his three-year supervised release. On Feb. 13, 2024, the former chief requested he be let off early. Federal prosecutors disagreed.

“Lovett, prior to his conviction, held a position of immense public trust in that he was the Chief of Police for the Savannah Police Department and early termination of his already shortened sentence may serve to erode public trust in the criminal justice system,” prosecutors wrote last month.

U.S. District Judge William T. Moore denied the ex-chief’s request on March 20.

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