The GBI has been asked to investigate the former head of the newly created Spalding County Marshal’s Office after he was accused of fatally shooting a woman’s pet dog, county officials said.
Spalding Sheriff Darrel Dix announced Friday that he’d requested the investigation into 49-year-old Smart Web, who resigned from his position as a county marshal. Web is already being investigated by the GBI due to allegations of “criminal conduct in reference to various departments of the city of Woodbury” during his time as police chief there, according to the state agency.
Dix made a similar allegation Friday when he shared a statement about his office’s investigation into Web’s suspected shooting of the dog. An investigator looking into the incident reported “other areas of concern,” Dix said, “and new allegations were made that appeared to be further criminal in nature.”
Upon hearing those new allegations, Dix shut down his agency’s investigation into Web and asked the GBI to take over.
GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles confirmed that state officials are investigating the Spalding County allegations against Web. She also confirmed the probe stemming from his days as Woodbury’s top cop, saying the Coweta Judicial Circuit asked the GBI to conduct that investigation Jan. 21.
Both GBI investigations remain active and open, Miles said.
In his statement Friday, Dix detailed the June 14 dog shooting that put Web under the sheriff’s scrutiny.
Web was called to a Griffin home in the 150 block of Maloy Circle for a complaint about roaming goats, Channel 2 Action News reported. Minutes after he arrived to the property, Web shot a 6-year-old Boston terrier named Allison, according to the news station.
County officials told Channel 2 that the animal was running toward Web aggressively and he shot her in self-defense, thinking he was being attacked by a pit bull.
Isabel Avellaneda Galarza, Allison’s owner, told Channel 2 that county inspectors showed up to their home unannounced and Web was standing a few feet from her when he shot her dog. She denied Allison was being aggressive and said she and her sister were trying to put all the animals in the house.
“He (Web) never talked to me,” Galarza told Channel 2. “He talked to me after he kills my dog.”
The shooting sparked community outrage and prompted Dix to call for the initial investigation.
After the lead investigator briefed Dix on his findings Monday, the sheriff revoked Web’s deputization. That’s when Web stepped down from his position as Spalding’s marshal.
Dix said the new allegations against Web, which are “beyond the scope” of the dog shooting, surfaced two days later when someone reported concerns more criminal in nature. That’s when Dix called off the investigation and notified County Manager Steve Ledbetter, Web’s immediate supervisor, of the new complaints against the former marshal.
Dix also called Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Marie Broder and briefed her on the dog shooting and the subsequent allegations regarding Web. Broder joined Dix in requesting the GBI investigation.
““Since this incident occurred, there has been a great deal of inaccurate information and rumors circulated across our community,” Dix wrote in his statement. “I have said repeatedly that there is more to this incident — including evidence, interviews, facts, and context — than video in and of itself can relate. There is no cover-up as has been alleged, no giant rug to sweep things under as has been alleged, and no good ol’ boy system in this investigation as has been alleged.”
