HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — Warner Robins’ police chief says the Houston District Attorney threatened to prosecute one of his officers after a critical comment on social media.
Chief Wayne Fisher described his March conversation with Will Kendall in a report to Mayor LaRhonda Patrick.
According to records obtained by 13WMAZ, Patrick, a city attorney and others discussed whether to report Kendall’s threat to state ethics commission or the Georgia Bar.
So far, the city said it has not filed an official complaint.
By phone, Kendall confirmed the conversation and says he backed down on his threat after the officer removed the comment, which criticized his performance as D.A.
It’s just the latest ethical concern in the contentious race for the sheriff of Houston County.
Kendall has questioned whether law enforcement-- particularly the sheriff’s office-- is bending rules to oppose him. He sent a statement to the state attorney general’s council, asking an outside prosecutor to look into that.
By email, Patrick commented to other city officials on the latest twist: “As we all know here in Houston County, election season… can be brutal, and now the City of Warner Robins has been dragged into it.”
"See who the troops are backing"
It all started on Facebook with a photo and a comment.
The photo was posted in March by Erik Sant, whom Fisher calls “a 'a politically connected person in the Houston County Republican Party.”
The photo appears to mock Matt Moulton, another candidate for Houston County sheriff.
It shows a “Moulton for Sheriff” yard sign near a street sign that says “Wrong Way.”
Sant wrote: “I couldn’t agree more!!!”
A Warner Robins officer, apparently a Moulton supporter, commented on the photo and began criticizing Kendall.
The officer wrote that Kendall has “a very good job that he has used to make the (law enforcement) community feel degraded and defeated.”
He suggested that Sant “see who the troops are backing.”
Fisher’s report says the officer made the comment on his personal page and not on Warner Robins police time.
"Kendall was very upset..."
On March 22, Chief Fisher reports he was driving to Florida for a weekend getaway with his wife when Kendall called.
“DA Kendall was very upset and spoke in an angered tone,” the chief wrote.
Due to Kendall interrupting his weekend, Fisher wrote, he was also “frustrated” by the call and his tone was similar to Kendall’s.
He says the DA described the Facebook debate and the Warner Robins officer’s comment criticizing him.
Kendall allegedly told Fisher that he was prepared to respond to “defend his position and actions as district attorney.”
The D.A. argued that the Warner Robins officer “was inept in his abilities and duties as commander,” which caused problems for prosecutors.
According to Fisher, “DA William Kendall went on to say that he did not need an intent to commit a crime to prosecute for Violation of Oath of Office that the mere malfeasance was sufficient for prosecution and that he had four years remaining to indict if chose to do so."
Fisher told Kendall he didn’t use social media, hadn’t seen the discussion and asked Kendall to send him the screenshots.
"We cannot idly stand by"
The Warner Robins chief discussed the conversation to the mayor, and that sparked an email conversation the next week among Fisher, Patrick and other city officials.
“It is well understood that the City of Warner Robins and the WRPD must work with whichever candidate is elected as Sheriff,” Patrick wrote, “but we cannot idly stand by and be subjected to mistreatment, threats or retaliation by the active DA due to our employees’ individual feelings about any candidate.’
Perhaps the city needed to file an ethics complaint on the matter, Patrick wrote.
“This is a concern of mine considering actions taken by the DA against the WRPD which has raised concern about our treatment in the past,” the mayor wrote.
City attorney Julie Mize agreed Kendall’s conduct was “serious” and suggested the city start collecting background for a complaint to the state ethics commission or Georgia bar association.
Fisher wrote his recollection of the phone call with Kendall and the officer agreed to delete his critical comment about Kendall.
The chief wrote that the officer was “very apologetic," "accepted full responsibility," and "repeatedly communicated his regret."
"I explained that I was not upset with him and that I was trying to keep the agency out of the sheriff's race,” Fisher wrote.
He was concerned his officers might become “collateral damage to a contentious campaign.”
‘A play out of the democrat's playbook'
Kendall this week confirmed his phone call with Fisher and says he backed off his threat to retaliate when the officer’s critical post was deleted.
13WMAZ offered Kendall several chances to explain his comments, but he declined to speak to us on camera unless Fisher and Patrick did as well.
He did send us a two-sentence statement blaming his opponent, Matt Moulton, for spreading allegations against him.
Kendall wrote, “This is nothing more than Matt Moulton's campaign taking a play out of the Democrat's playbook. They distract from their own unethical deeds by creating accusations against their opposition.”
13WMAZ has not talked with Moulton or his campaign while reporting this story. The person who tipped us described themselves as a Warner Robins city official.
Moulton is a Houston County sheriff’s lieutenant.
He, Kendall; former Houston officer Slate Simons and longtime Little League leader Jimmy Dunn are all running for sheriff in the May 21 primary. All four men are Republicans.
Mayor Patrick and Chief Fisher were not available for an on-camera interview; they sent a statement on behalf of the city.
"The City of Warner Robins, Mayor, and Chief of Police make this joint statement.
The City of Warner Robins responded to an open records request made through the media. The request was specifically made by 13 WMAZ seeking any information as it relates to “complaints by Mayor LaRhonda Patrick and Police Chief Wayne Fisher against District Attorney Will Kendall”, and “all records and communications relating to alleged Facebook post made by police officer prompting alleged complaints made by Kendall to Fisher and Patrick." The City of Warner Robins responded proper to the request pursuant to the Georgia Open Records Act, O.C.G.A. 50-18-70 and provided what information it had as it related to the request. The contents of the response were copies of the text in question as well as notes from the phone conversation and Chief Fisher’s actions.
The City is committed to integrity and transparency at all times, including when interacting with other law enforcement agencies. Actions by those in position of trust who operate under oath of office, are not condoned by the City of Warner Robins, when such actions are outside of, or breach the community trust which has been placed upon them.”