Legal Question in Criminal Law in Georgia

In Georgia, I am a state licensed private, armed security guard. My company goes into a lot of high crime apartment complexes and cleans them up so that young children can once again go outside and play happily and safely. The company has been around for over 11 years and have accounts in numerous jurisdictions all with no issues with the police, until last month. The owner of the company, one other security guard and I were working a new account in Dekalb County, Ga. There had recently been numerous gun fights and everyone in the office was having their lives threatened. So at the beginning of one shift, a lady in an apartment that we have ran numerous known, proven drug dealers out of, informed us that someone had been calling her and telling her they were going to come and shoot her and her children. We notified her to file a report with the Dekalb county police and gave her our cell number. All was quiet until about 3 AM, when she called again saying they had just called again. We told her to call the police everytime they called and call her phone provider to block calls from blocked phone numbers. She said a police officer had just left. Approximetaly 2 minutes later, we heard a loud scream coming from that general direction. We proceeded cautiously over there but were unable to identify any threats. Until, we passed a vehicle and my boss noticed a male individual crouching in his car as if attempting to hide. I proceeded to pull security approx. 10 feet in front of the car and my partner moved to where he could cover the owner from anyone that might be in the backseat. The driver kept changing his story about what he was doing there and when we asked him how he got through the gate at the front entrance, he said he "piggy-backed" off the car in front of him. The boss asked if he had any ID, the individual complied and gave him his ID, the guy still could not give us an answer as to who or what he was doing in the apartment complex. After talking to the individual, my boss made the determination to ask the individual out of the car, the guy complied with no issues, it was at that time, that my boss noticed there was approx. a one gallon baggy full of cash sitting on the passenger seat and a large box of rope in the back seat, all in plain sight. It was because of the scream we had heard, the earlier information about death threats, that MY BOSS INSTRUCTED THE OTHER OFFICER TO DETAIN THE INDIVIDUAL WITH HANDCUFFS. I was not involved in the handcuffing (the individual admitted this in the probable cause hearing). The police officers were called as soon as the handcuffs were on, and the only contact I had with the individual was when my boss instructed me to "watch over the individual until Dekalb County Police show up". I was carrying a tactical shotgun, as was the other officer, so I made sure that the shotgun was pointed at the ground and I stayed a minimum of 6 feet away from the individual. When the police arrived, they did not take him out of cuffs, they refused to search his car, and they refused to issue the individual a criminal trespass warning. My boss reminded the police officer that we were representatives of the property owner and he was not wanted on the property. They again refused, and this is when it went bad. Before the night was over, their was a detective on scene, and he was informing us that he was going to go back and talk to the individual about filing false imprisonment arrest charges. The young man did and I had a probable cause hearing on Oct. 23,2009. A warrant was signed and I was arrested until I could make bond. Now I am facing felony charges for something that I really had nothing to do with! Please advise.


Asked on 11/02/09, 7:33 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Scott Riddle Law Office of Scott B. Riddle, LLC

A felony charge means you need a lawyer, not a website.

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Answered on 11/07/09, 8:26 pm


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