A former DeKalb County police officer has been indicted on charges that he violated his oath of office by taking bribes.
Authorities said Brandon Brown solicited bribes in August 2013 from a customer at an Ethiopian restaurant and hookah bar on Clairmont Road where he worked part-time. In return, he did not issue a citation to a customer who he was told was smoking marijuana.
Brown resigned to avoid being fired after being reported to police. He had been with the department since 2010.
He admitted to police internal affairs investigators in a recorded interview that he told the smoker he wanted $50.
“What I’ve done was wrong,” he said.
“This officer sold his badge for a $50 bribe,” said DeKalb County district attorney Robert James.
DeKalb County police chief Cedric Alexander said, "This was one individual who chose to go outside of the law, and he resigned very, very quickly before it got very much into this investigation."
WSB Radio reported that the suspect tried to leave the restaurant and offered Brown only $40. Brown then noticed a woman with a cell phone camera pointed at him. Brown knocked the phone out of her hand.
Brown also was indicted on a charge of simple battery for slapping and grabbing her hand.
Brown’s arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday, May 26, 2015.
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