WORTH CO., GA – Former Worth County sheriff Jeff Hobby was in court Thursday at 9:30 a.m. for a hearing involving probation violation.
According to the arrest warrant, Hobby was taken into custody on Feb. 14 by a probation officer for violating the terms of his probation.
According to the district attorney’s office, Hobby was in violation by having contact, “personally or through others” with Worth County Sheriff’s Office employees.
Also stated in the warrant, Hobby had contact with a sheriff’s office employee on Feb. 3 at a Sylvester Dairy Queen.
According to the AJC (https://www.ajc.com/news/crime–law/former-sheriff-charged-with-sexual-battery-obstruction-pleads-guilty/5TqdnU8gEbwRnQSEO4zVSI/) Hobby was originally accused of violating the civil rights of hundreds of high school students and interfering in an investigation.
Indicted in October 2017 on charges of sexual battery, false imprisonment and violation of oath of office related to a massive drug search at a high school, he ordered deputies to carry out body searches of about 700 students at Worth County High School in April 2017. Deputies allegedly “touched girls’ vaginas and breasts and groped boys in their groin area during the search,” Channel 2 Action News reported.
Hobby was sentenced to five years probation, with the first six months in confinement. However, the court counted the time he’d already served against those six months, so that would be over on August 20, 2018.
Gov. Nathan Deal suspended Hobby from his sheriff’s post in November. In December, AJC.com reported that additional charges were filed against Hobby for obstruction of justice and interfering with witnesses after he told his employees at the sheriff’s office not to talk about the case with GBI investigators or the local district attorney’s office.
A warrant said he threatened to fire his employees if they talked to investigators, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
As a result of the hearing this morning, Hobby will remain in jail for the remainder of the probation period, according to the Tift Co. District Attorney’s Office.
