GAINESVILLE, Ga. – A fourth Hall County sheriff’s deputy has resigned after investigators found he used the agency’s Flock Safety system for unauthorized personal searches, bringing the number of employees who have left the Sheriff’s Office during its Flock audit to seven.
Deputy Brandon Sanders submitted his resignation Friday, Sept. 4, the same day the Hall County Sheriff’s Office announced its Internal Affairs Unit had concluded the audit that has led to three firings and four resignations in a little more than two weeks.
According to HCSO, investigators determined Sanders used Flock on multiple occasions while off duty to search various license plates. The Sheriff’s Office said the searches were not authorized.
Sanders had worked for the agency since December 2021. HCSO did not say how many searches he conducted, whose license plates he searched, or why he was looking for them.
The agency said it will refer the violations to the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council for review. The release did not announce any criminal investigation or charges involving Sanders; however, HCSO Public Information Officer B.J. Williams told Now Georgia, “the criminal investigation into their unauthorized activity is not complete at this time”
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Latest in a series of personnel changes
Sanders’ resignation closes the audit with a much different picture of Flock use inside HCSO than existed when Now Georgia began requesting records from Northeast Georgia law enforcement agencies in early August.
Hall County initially told Now Georgia it was experiencing “technical difficulties” retrieving some of the requested Flock records. Those records were later released, and the Sheriff’s Office reported reviewing 758 searches and flagging 85 for additional scrutiny.
What followed was a rapid series of personnel actions.
Investigator Justin Brown was fired Aug. 19 after HCSO said he used the system for personal reasons. Personnel records later obtained by Now Georgia showed Brown accessed Flock approximately 250 times for personal use between Jan. 2 and July 30. His case was referred to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for a criminal investigation.
Investigator Michael Atkins was fired Aug. 24 after investigators determined he accessed the system at least four times for personal reasons unrelated to law enforcement.
Three more deputies then resigned while under investigation.
Jason Orellana resigned Aug. 26 after investigators found he conducted 10 unauthorized searches at the request of another employee. Jail Division Deputy Taylor McArthur resigned the following day after HCSO said she provided information to Orellana and asked him to check Flock for information involving people she knew.
Deputy Austin Scott Flanagan also resigned Aug. 27. Investigators said Flanagan accessed Flock twice for personal reasons. He had already been on administrative leave after Gainesville Police arrested him on a misdemeanor charge of making harassing phone calls.
Then on Sept. 2, property crimes investigator Melissa Wood became the third investigator fired during the audit. HCSO said Wood repeatedly used Flock to track the whereabouts of someone she knew for personal reasons.
Sanders now becomes the seventh employee to leave HCSO in connection with findings from the Flock review. A total of eight personnel separations if you count former Lt. Michael Todd Casper resigning amid misconduct allegations.
The Flock audit may now be finished, but the fallout is not necessarily over.
POST reviews remain ahead for employees whose conduct was referred to the state certification agency, and Brown’s case has been referred to the GBI for criminal investigation.
For Hall County, the final tally from its internal Flock review is significant: seven employees gone, including three investigators who were fired and four deputies who resigned, after an audit intended to determine whether one of law enforcement’s most powerful tracking tools was being used only for legitimate police work.
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