Report: Suits filed against Habersham Sheriff's office
By
Posted 9:29AM on Sunday, May 26, 2002
CLARKESVILLE - Six lawsuits have been filed against the sheriff's office in northeast Georgia's Habersham County, alleging that officers routinely conduct strip searches of people who are now jailed. <br>
<br>
The Anderson, South Carolina, Independent-Mail reported Saturday that four new lawsuits were filed last week against Habersham County and the sheriff's office. The lawsuits seek $10 million in damages. <br>
<br>
The plaintiffs say the strip searches occur routinely without reasonable suspicion. <br>
<br>
The strip searches alleged in the new lawsuits ran from December 23rd, 2000, when Ronnie James was sheriff, until February Tenth of this year. <br>
<br>
One case names James, while the others name Sheriff Rich Moore, who took office in 2001. <br>
<br>
The new lawsuits join two others already filed by Atlanta attorneys representing women from Habersham County and Stephens County. <br>
<br>
The lawyer for one of the plaintiffs, Janet Hicks of Habersham County, said a deputy forced his client to put her arms around him while he took her fingerprints, pulling her breasts into his back. <br>
<br>
Marilyn Snyder of Toccoa said she was stopped at a roadblock on her way home from Helen. She said she was accused of drunk driving, taken to the Habersham County jail and forced to take off her clothes in front of a female deputy, squat and cough three times. <br>
<br>
Sheriff Moore told the newspaper his deputies are already following legal Standard Operating Procedure.