HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — A born and raised Maconite is running for sheriff of Houston County.
Matt Moulton said his uncle, who served as a Bibb County Deputy, inspired him as a kid. Now, Moulton wants to carry on the legacy of the longest-serving sheriff of Houston County, Cullen Talton.
Moulton attended Rosa Taylor Elementary School, Springdale Elementary School, Tattnall Square Academy, and Central High School. He graduated with a college preparatory diploma in 1993.
During his time in high school, Moulton said, he got his first taste of a career in law enforcement during a ride-along with Bibb County Deputy Richard Cruz.
"When I did that ride along with Richard, I knew that was the profession that I wanted to go into," Moulton said. "I knew I wanted to be a police officer."
He earned some credits for college courses at Georgia State University while in high school, then went to College of the Ozarks in Missouri and graduated a semester early in December of 1998.
He said the school only held one ceremony every school year, so he walked the stage the following spring.
"The day I graduated, I didn't owe a dime," Moulton said.
He described his higher-education institution as a "unique school" because the full-time students attending don't pay tuition.
"I didn't have to pay for room and board, I didn't have to pay tuition, because I worked my way through college," Moulton said.
Moulton said he was a student officer working under a certified police officer through an apprenticeship program at Ozark.
"The work was carried out by students with adult-supervision that worked with the college," he said.
After graduating early, Moulton began working at the Branson Police Department in Missouri where he served for a short time before returning home to Central Georgia.
"My father passed away in 1999," Moulton said. "I made the decision that it was time to move back home because my whole family is here in Macon and Houston County."
Upon his return, Moulton said, he applied to a few law enforcement agencies around Central Georgia before the Warner Robins Police Department was the first to reach out.
"I learned a lot from supervision and management there," Moulton said.
He began his time there as a patrol officer and field training officer. Moulton was promoted to the narcotics division as an investigator, then as a patrol sergeant.
"I finished my career at Warner Robins as a School Resource Officer at Houston County High School," Moulton said.
While he was an SRO, Moulton said, he was teaching teenagers about the consequences of their choices in hopes of educating young adults to deter them from criminal activity.
Moulton said he was approached by the Georgia Public Safety Training Center about a job opening, so he applied as a public safety training instructor.
Moulton said he was responsible for coordinating and instructing the Basic Law Enforcement Training Course (BLETC), the 408-hour course that certifies peace officers in Georgia, during his time there from 2013 to 2014.
He sought a position as a deputy at the Houston County Sheriff's Office after his time at the GPSTC and was hired there in 2014.
He's been with the sheriff's office for the past nine years. Since joining the sheriff's office, he was promoted to a field training officer, traffic deputy supervisor and narcotics investigator.
Today, he is the lieutenant assigned to the criminal investigations divisions.
He has about a dozen officers working under his direct supervision and also works daily with Sheriff Talton.
Moulton said he has two main priorities as sheriff: improve the manpower of the sheriff's office and start an at-risk youth program.
Through preserving his predecessor's selfless legacy, Moulton says he thinks he can accomplish those goals.
"I have bought in, I have invested in this agency," Moulton said. "When I look around at who could potentially lead the agency, I just think I'm the most qualified to do it."
Moulton currently shares joint-custody of his 14-year-old daughter, a freshman at Veterans High School.
He is running as a Republican.
Republican and Democratic primaries for the 2024 election cycle are in May.