Former deputy charged with theft

Patti Dozier

May 14, 2008 10:08 pm

— THOMASVILLE — A former law enforcement officer was released from the Thomas County Jail after being charged with theft by conversion.
Christopher Ragan Newsom, 27, 586 Baldwin Road, Ochlocknee, was released Tuesday on a $10,100 bond.
The warrant for the former Thomas County Sheriff’s Office deputy’s arrest shows he accepted $20,000 to perform construction work at a woman’s Thomas County residence.
“He commingled her money and spent it on another project and failed to perform services for her,” said Lt. Tim watkins, sheriff’s office chief investigator.
The investigator said it is illegal in Georgia to accept payment for a specific service and to spend the money on a different project.
Newsom, who owns a construction business, was arrested Tuesday. The offense took place Feb. 20, jail records show.
Newsom was employed by the sheriff’s office from August 2001 to September 2006.
On Wednesday, Sheriff Carlton Powell said Newsom left his agency to go into construction.
In another sheriff’s office case, a jail inmate, Tony Bernard Hicks, filed a report with the agency claiming his girlfriend was receiving his unemployment checks and converting them to her own use without his permission.
“Upon investigation by the sheriff’s office, he is not entitled to unemployment compensation while incarcerated,” Watkins explained. The investigation also showed the check transactions were carried out with Hicks’ permission.
The girlfriend, Tequilla Hanks, 27, 333 Shoreline Drive, and Hicks are charged with conspiring to defraud a state/political subdivision. Hanks was released on a $1,100 bond.
Hicks, 35, who previously resided at 555 Cassidy Road, has been in jail since Feb. 28, when he was charged with cocaine possession with intent to distribute, felony marijuana possession and parole violation.

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 220.