A Monroe County deputy has been fired and now faces criminal charges for allegedly asking a woman he arrested for sex, according to Monroe Sheriff Al Shackleford.
He says Deputy Bill Miller was fired Thursday morning and is charged with violating his oath of office.
"My main concern was to remove him from the law enforcement community so that he can never become a police officer again," he said.
Shackleford says an Atlanta TV station contacted his office Friday afternoon, saying the woman made a tape of Miller offering to help her with a DUI and drug charges in exchange for sexual favors.
"That was the first we knew about it," said Shackleford. He said the woman approached the TV station, Fox 5 in Atlanta, because she doubted whether the sheriff's office would take the case seriously.
Shackleford said Miller arrested the woman in late July on DUI and meth-possession charges and contacted her by phone and text about two weeks later.
They met in a secluded wooded area on Aug. 14, where Miller offered to help get the charges dismissed, Shackleford said.
In addition to the woman's tape, Shackleford says other evidence helped confirm her story.
He said Miller was placed on administrative leave Friday while his Internal Affairs office investigated and the GBI investigated criminal charges.
Shackleford says Miller joined Monroe County in April after working in Fulton and Henry counties.
"We were shocked," he said. "He just came across so professional, everybody loved him."
That included Miller's superiors at his two previous jobs: "They all gave him the highest marks possible, so this was a shock to us."
He said Miller said he'd left those previous jobs for financial reasons.
Miller is a Marine Corps veteran who is married and has two children, the sheriff said.
The GBI and his office will continue to investigate, he said.
"There could easily be somebody come forward to say he pulled me over, too," Shackleford said.
Warrant for fired Monroe Co. deputy's arrest by 13WMAZ on Scribd