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Bleckley County sheriff, accused of assaulting judge in Atlanta, turns himself in

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Bleckley County Sheriff Kristopher Coody has been charged in Cobb County with misdemeanor sexual assault. 

Officials confirmed that Coody turned himself in on Feb. 4 at the Cobb County Jail. The central Georgia sheriff was booked into the Cobb jail shortly after 8 p.m. Booking records showed that he was released about an hour later after posting a $1,000 bond. 

Coody is accused of assaulting a judge in Atlanta during a conference. The alleged incident happened on Jan. 18 at the Galleria Parkway hotel and was reported to police the following day. At the time, the hotel was hosting the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association’s three-day winter training conference.

Coody allegedly made intentional physical contact with intimate parts of the victim’s body when he allegedly placed his hand on the breast of the victim without her consent. 

 The Cobb County Police Department says it was alerted to the alleged sexual battery that occurred on the evening of Jan. 18 at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly. 

After interviewing multiple witnesses, police said they obtained the arrest warrant Jan. 28 for 57-year-old Coody. After the warrant was issued, Coody did not immediately turn himself in. Chief Deputy Daniel Cape with the Bleckley County Sheriff’s Office said Coody did not turn himself in until Friday because he was out of Georgia on a church-sponsored mission trip.  

According to the warrant, Sheriff Kristopher Coody allegedly touched a woman’s breast at the hotel bar. The victim is a prominent judge who said the alleged assault took place at a sheriff’s convention that was hosted at the hotel.  Due to the nature of the alleged crime, the name of the victim has not been released. The case remains under investigation.

The Georgia Sheriff’s Association has released the following statement:

The members of the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association are aware of an incident of reported misdemeanor sexual battery that has resulted in a warrant being issued in Cobb County for the arrest of Sheriff Kristopher Coody of Bleckley County. The reported incident occurred after hours during the time of a scheduled annual training event not planned or sponsored by the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association. The Association has no firsthand knowledge of the facts surrounding the reported incident and directs all incident-related questions to the investigating agency.

The Bleckley County Sheriff’s Office released the following statement: 

“Bleckley County Sheriff’s Office is aware of the outstanding warrant regarding Sheriff Coody. Sheriff Coody is currently participating in a church-sponsored mission trip outside of the state of Georgia that has been scheduled for nearly a year. Sheriff Coody has been a law enforcement officer for more than two decades and has tremendous respect for our court system. He’s taking these allegations seriously and will meet with the appropriate authorities as soon as he returns. The Bleckley County sheriff’s office has always and will continue to believe in complete transparency- However, will not comment any further on these pending criminal charges, to allow the investigation to continue without interference. Sheriff Coody will provide more information at a later date, as he is able to do so.”

The Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, or POST, reflects Coody as a member of the Georgia State Patrol from 1988 until 2007, when he went to work for the Bleckley sheriff’s office. Coody served as an officer with the state Department of Agriculture from 2008 to 2011 before returning to the sheriff’s office. Coody ran for sheriff and has served in this role since January 2017.

According to POST records, in 2009 Coody’s certification was put on probation for 24 months and he was required to attend an anger management course. 

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