Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Russell Mansfield confirmed Wednesday afternoon that a Coffee County jail officer was arrested this week following an investigation into inappropriate sexual conduct with an inmate.
Coffee County Detention Officer James Avery Dixon, 53-years-old of Douglas, was arrested and charged by the GBI with three counts of sexual assault by a person with supervisory or disciplinary authority and one count of violation of oath by a public officer.
In a press released issued by the GBI on Wednesday, officials stated the arrest occurred after Coffee County Sheriff Doyle Wooten contacted the GBI’s Douglas office on Tuesday to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct by Dixon that were made by a female inmate at the Coffee County Jail. The allegations were made by the inmate within the past few days during an unrelated internal investigation being conducted by the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office.
The allegations dated back to December 2014, with the most recent reported incident occurring this week.
The GBI stated the investigation is ongoing and no further details will be released at this time.
Douglas Now has asked the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office if they would be releasing a statement on Dixon’s arrest and requested a jail mugshot of the alleged offender under the Freedom of Information Act just after 7 a.m. today. As of 4:30 p.m., we have not received a response from either request.
If anyone has information pertaining to the investigation, they are asked to please contact the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office at (912) 384-4227 or the GBI Douglas Office at (912) 389-4103.
UPDATE:
Just before 6 p.m. Wednesday evening, the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office released the following statement and jail mugshot in regards to the arrest of Officer Dixon:
On the morning of March 31, 2015, Sheriff Doyle Wooten was informed by the jail administrator of an allegation of misconduct of a sexual nature by a member of the jail staff. The allegation was then substantiated by a video recording taken from the in-house jail video system, which was part of an ongoing and unrelated internal investigation.
Subsequent to the sheriff’s internal investigation, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was immediately called to investigate any possible criminal acts that may have arisen from the misconduct. As a result of the GBI investigation, James Dixon, age 53 of Douglas and a four-year veteran of the Coffee County jail, was placed under arrest for one count of violating his oath of office and three counts of sexual assault by persons with supervisory or disciplinary authority.
Dixon was brought before the Coffee County magistrate judge the same day and given a $40,000 bond for all four charges, which was later posted and he was released.
As a result of the internal investigation, Dixon’s employment was immediately terminated.
Sheriff Wooten added that it was part of his election platform to hold each and every employee of the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office 100% accountable for their actions.
“I find Mr. Dixon’s actions deplorable,” Sheriff Wooten said. “Having the authority and legal ability to enforce laws in the State of Georgia comes with higher accountability and standard of conduct. I have not and shall never tolerate any such behavior from any member of this Office.”
Coffee County Jail Officer James Dixon