HIAWASSEE – The past 12 months have been rough for personnel at the Towns County Sheriff’s Office, but Interim Sheriff Anthony Coleman wants people to know that he is working hard to “rebuild” the agency.
Since the January 2025 arrest of former deputy Austin Bradburn on charges that he fabricated elements of the December 2024 roadside incident in which he was shot twice in the leg, at least four law enforcement officers have faced arrest at the Towns County Sheriff’s Office.
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The highest profile of those arrests has been Sheriff Ken Henderson, who was indicted by a Towns County grand jury in October on seven counts pertaining to his on-scene actions in the aftermath of Bradburn’s shooting.
And last week, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested two more TCSO deputies for alleged theft in unrelated cases. Both deputies have been terminated from their employment.
Former Sheriff’s Maj. Johnny McCoy, 51, was taken into custody on Jan. 6 and charged with theft by deception, violation of oath of office, and three counts of false statements and writings. McCoy, who led Law Enforcement Operations at TCSO, was fired at the time of his arrest.
“In July of 2025, the GBI was requested by Enotah Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Joy Parks to investigate a theft allegation within the accountability court program,” the GBI said. “McCoy, a sworn law enforcement officer, was hired as a surveillance officer for the accountability court program.
“Part of his duties required home visits with accountability court participants. During a review of these home visits, discrepancies were identified. The subsequent investigation led to the charges against McCoy.”
McCoy was booked into the Union County Jail, and he bonded out shortly thereafter.
Separately and on the same day as McCoy, the GBI arrested and charged former Patrol Sgt. Andrew Glass, 38, with theft by conversion, violation of oath of office, and false statements. Glass was fired the week before his arrest, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
In a press release regarding Glass’ arrest, the GBI related that Interim Sheriff Coleman, who was appointed by Judge Parks following Sheriff Henderson’s suspension last fall, had requested a GBI investigation on Friday, Dec. 19.
Sheriff Coleman’s request for an independent investigation came after an inventory “of all county-owned equipment and government property” turned up two missing firearms. The inventory was part of routine procedures following the installment of another sheriff.
The GBI investigation “led to the recovery of one of the missing guns and Glass’ arrest” for what TCSO described as “the unauthorized possession of a Sheriff’s Office firearm.”
Glass was booked into the Towns County Detention Center and made bond that day.
The investigations into Glass and McCoy remain active, according to the GBI, which has requested that anyone with information about the cases contact the Towns County Sheriff’s Office at 706-896-4444 or the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Cleveland at 706-348-4866.
When the investigations are complete, the case files will be provided to the Enotah Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
The second missing firearm, serial number CETD710, has been updated from “missing” to “stolen” in the National Crime Information Center and remains under investigation by the GBI, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
On Jan. 7, the day after the former deputies’ arrests, Sheriff Coleman released a recorded statement on social media to personally introduce himself to the community and reassure residents that the Sheriff’s Office was working hard to serve the people of Towns County.
“I want to assure you that these actions are not the way that sometimes the public sees it,” Sheriff Coleman said. “It does not involve every officer here. There is a lot of great officers here within this department, and they deserve that recognition, and they don’t need to be blemished by the results of other officers.
“We are working endlessly and tirelessly to come to a resolution and to improve the reputation and the conduct of this office based on the past actions of others.”
Coleman went on to state that, “first and foremost, I am a Christian, a God-loving man, and I try to shape my actions off of God’s living word that’s in the Bible.”
“I take those to guide me in my leadership, also through my actions and also through what I would like to input into the Sheriff’s Office and back down into the community,” Coleman said. “This is some trying times for all of us, but I ask for your patience and your support during these times that we’re in this rebuilding stage of redoing the Towns County Sheriff’s Office.
“We are always available, and we can assure you that you will not see a missed beat or missed patrol efforts by the officers. Our Uniform Patrol Division has not been touched by these actions. We are full-staffed on that, utilizing our part-time help, and those patrols and your safety will be at the highest of our concentration.
“And we will make sure that everybody is treated fairly, with compassion, with professionalism and integrity. If we can be of assistance to you, please reach out, and thank you for your time and your support.”
These latest arrests have once again put Towns County in the broader media spotlight, with GBI Director Chris Hosey providing comments to WSB-TV Channel 2 last week, describing the arrests and the situation here as “quite unusual.”
All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
