When Sheriff Jeff Hobby ordered his deputies to frisk the entire student body of Worth County High School, he probably thought he was being pretty slick. Unfortunately, not only did he find none of the drugs he said he was looking for, but now he’s facing sexual battery charges as a result of the incident.
According to a report at AJC.com, “A south Georgia grand jury indicted Worth County Sheriff Jeff Hobby on Tuesday for sexual battery, false imprisonment and violation of oath of office after he ordered a school-wide search of hundreds of high school students. Deputies allegedly touched girls vaginas and breasts and groped boys in their groin area during the search at the Worth County High School April 14.”
Two of the sheriff’s deputies were also indicted in connection with the case.
“The Worth County indictment accuses Hobby of one count of violating his oath of office and two counts of false imprisonment — all felonies charges,” the report continued. “He was also indicted on one count of sexual battery, a misdemeanor.”
In addition, “Deputy Tyler Turner was indicted on one felony count of violation of his oath of office and one misdemeanor count of sexual battery. Deputy Deidra Whiddon was indicted for one felony count of violation of her oath of office.”
Wow. Just…wow.
To be clear here, there were absolutely no drugs found in an earlier search, which is what prompted Hobby to conduct the more controversial frisking search. Again, nothing was found.
As a result, Worth County High School may well be the cleanest high school in North America. At least, that’s how a lot of parents are probably looking at it, and I can’t say that I blame them. Two searches, including an incredibly invasive search like this, and still no drugs found? Not even a joint?
Even if drugs had been found, however, it wouldn’t have changed the fact that they laid hands on kids who weren’t even suspected to have done anything wrong. Now we hear that it’s worse than that?
I’m not going to lie, this is a little personal to me. My sister-in-law graduated from Worth County High School in 2015. This is her alma mater, and her boyfriend was still a student at the time. Yes, I have ties to this school.
However, had there been a legitimate reason for this, I’d have accepted it. There wasn’t. Instead, we simply have a bunch of kids detained, allegedly groped, and humiliated, all so a sheriff can try to…what? Find a couple tiny bags of pot? Maybe a joint or two? What?
And people wonder why so many parents are turning to homeschooling.
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