LUCEDALE, Miss. (WLOX) – Amid a dispute between the George County Sheriff’s Office and the Lucedale Police Department involving inmate housing and claims of falsified documents, a robbery suspect has been set free without seeing a judge or receiving bond, officials stated on Friday.
At 3:11 p.m. on Friday afternoon, the Lucedale Police Department sent out a press release announcing the arrest of a robbery suspect at 2:20 p.m. The department stated shortly after, he was taken to the George County Regional Correctional Facility (GCRCF), where he was “turned over to the custody of the George County Sheriff’s Office.” The press release adds that the department “had no further involvement in his detention or subsequent handling.”
The press release concludes by stating the suspect was transported back to Lucedale PD by GCSO deputies and picked up by family members without appearing before a George County Justice Court judge and without a bond being set.
However, just over 3 hours later, the sheriff’s office rebutted with a press release of their own, titled “George County Sheriff’s Office Responds to Lucedale PD’s Misleading Statement Regarding Inmate Release.”
The press release begins by explaining that Lucedale PD has not signed a housing contract with GCRCF, meaning that any inmate arrested by the office remains their responsibility. This includes booking, custody, and housing.
“To circumvent this, LPD began signing charges through the George County Justice Court rather than the Lucedale Municipal Court,” the release reads. “Despite this procedural shift, the Sheriff’s Office explicitly informed LPD on multiple occasions that responsibility for arrestees remained with the Lucedale Police Department.”
Following the robbery suspect’s arrest, GCSO claims the Lucedale PD attempted to book him into GCRCF by listing both the arresting agency and responsible agency as GCSO, which they say is “a falsification of official custodial documents, signed by [a Lucedale PD investigator. This false designation was discovered upon processing, prompting immediate contact with LPD supervisors to correct the error.”
The GCSO release goes on to state that despite requesting that an officer from Lucedale PD pick the suspect up from the GCRCF, no one came, prompting a deputy to bring the suspect back to Lucedale PD. The sheriff’s office goes on to claim that despite a conversation between officials from both departments in which a GCSO chief deputy told Lucedale PD officers that they must make arrangements to house the suspect at either Greene or Stone County, Lucedale PD instead chose to release the inmate from custody.
“Statements made by Police Chief Kellum Fairley to Justice Court officials suggesting that GCSO ‘released’ the inmate are false and misleading,” the release declares. “The George County Sheriff’s Office acted fully within legal guidelines and departmental policy, and did not assume custody of [the suspect]. Responsibility for his arrest and release lies solely with the Lucedale Police Department.”
The release closes by stating GCSO is committed to interagency cooperation, but says they will not tolerate “misinterpretations of law enforcement duties and public misinformation.”
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