A Spalding County deputy has been fired after he was accused of sexual misconduct involving a 16-year-old girl, according to a news release.
On Tuesday, Mason Lumpkin was arrested and taken into custody by the GBI and the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office, according to the release. He was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and electronically distributing obscene materials to a minor.
Lumpkin allegedly sent pictures and Snapchat messages to the 16-year-old girl, and the pictures eventually were also seen by a 9-year-old girl, according to the GBI.
“The first young girl involved let her parents know what had happened. They looked at the pictures and immediately reported them to us,” Sheriff Darrell Dix said in the news release. “I saw the pictures and based on those pictures and the attached messages, I asked the GBI to conduct a criminal investigation with the full cooperation of my office and staff.”
Dix said he fired Lumpkin on Tuesday, when he was booked before posting bond, according to the release. Overnight, Lumpkin was arrested again and charged with driving under the influence and failure to maintain lane. He was being held at the Spalding County Jail, according to the release.
“Every employee that works at the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office knows that both their on-duty behavior and their off-duty behavior affects the way that the public views us not just us locally, but our entire profession nationwide,” Dix said in the release. “The citizens we serve and my employees both expect and deserve better than what Lumpkin has demonstrated. As the agency head, if I don’t hold my people accountable, I lose the respect of the citizens I’m elected to serve, and I also lose the respect of my employees that work hard to make this community better.”
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