SAVANNAH — A Georgia sheriff said Friday he has fired a fourth deputy for neglecting duties after the death of a jail inmate.
Chatham County Sheriff John Wilcher announced the latest firing in a statement the day after he said three other deputies had been terminated — including one who was charged with falsifying jail records.
The firings were prompted by an internal investigation into the death Sunday of 34-year-old Lee Michael Creely, who was found unresponsive in a cell. Creely had been jailed for a probation violation.
Wilcher said investigators determined deputies had failed to make required rounds to check on inmates every 30 minutes, and one of them had made fake entries in log books used to record those checks. That deputy, Terence Jamal Jackson, was arrested on a felony count of falsifying records.
The sheriff did not name the three deputies who were fired but not charged. He said the cause of Creely’s death remains unknown.
“I’m not going to tolerate it,” Wilcher told a news conference Thursday. “We’ve got a job to do here, and these people need to be treated humanely.”
It was not immediately known if Jackson had an attorney to represent him.
An attorney for Creely’s family, Will Claiborne, called the firings and criminal charges “a step in the right direction.” But he also called on the sheriff and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to release all information they’ve obtained about Creely’s death.
“The family has no idea how or why Mr. Creely died,” Claiborne said in a statement. “Being kept in the dark has only served to deepen their hurt and anguish.”
Jail records show Creely, who was white, had been in jail since Sept. 3 for a probation violation. His record included arrests for drug offenses in 2018 and 2019.
Wilcher told reporters he’s asked the GBI to investigate Creely’s death. He said an autopsy was conducted Wednesday, but results had not been released.
“As far as how the inmate died and what he died of, we don’t have a clue until the GBI and the coroner get their investigation done,” Wilcher said.
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