Human Rights Center says it will challenge Worth County sheriff over intrusive drug search

ATLANTA — Officials with the law office of the Southern Center for Human Rights say they are challenging what they described as a “highly intrusive” drug search of Worth County High School students last month that the Worth Sheriff’s Office conducted without warrants.

During the search, center officials say, law enforcement officers touched students’ genitals and breasts. They also noted that no drugs were found in the April 14 search, which was preceded by one conducted at the school less than a month earlier by the Sylvester Police Department.

Last month, Worth County Sheriff Jeff Hobby acknowledged that one of his deputies overstepped his instructions during the search while patting down some of the students.

“The sheriff’s search of Worth County High School students went far beyond what the law permits,” SCHR attorney Crystal Redd said in a news release this morning. “The sheriff had no authority to subject the entire student population to physical searches of their persons, and certainly none to search students in such an aggressive and inappropriate manner.”

The news released stated that the center is going “to challenge” the search conducted by the sheriff’s office, but did not say whether that would involve a suit in Georgia or federal court. The Herald has contacted Redd’s office for comment, but that call was not immediately returned.

On April 18, Hobby released a statement regarding the search. In the statement, the Worth sheriff said that the search was conducted after his office received complaints from county residents that there were illegal drugs in the school. Hobby said he contacted the Worth School Superintendent and the Worth High principal, and that Hobby and the principal agreed on a date for a pat-down search.

Center officials say students and their families reported that sheriff’s deputies locked down the school and detained the students more than four hours while conducting the search. About 900 students were moved to the hallways, where center officials say deputies “aggressively searched” them and used drug-detecting dogs to search lockers and autos on campus. Sylvester police also used drug-detecting dogs to search lockers and autos in March.

Students, including some with developmental and intellectual disabilities, reported that officers felt under their clothes and undergarments and inappropriately touched genital areas and breasts, the release said. One student, who SCHR is representing, was asked to lift her shirt, officials with the center said. When she refused, a deputy lifted both her shirt and bra, exposing parts of her breast, the release states.

In his April 18 statement, Hobby said that his deputies were instructed “to perform a basic and non-intrusive pat down of each student. This was performed in the presence of the principal.”

After the pat-downs were conducted, the sheriff said that “it was discovered that one of the deputies had exceeded the instructions given by the sheriff and conducted a pat down of some students that was more intrusive than instructed by the sheriff. Upon the discovery of the deputy’s actions, the sheriff has taken corrective action to insure (sic) that this behavior not occur again.”

A message left with the Worth Sheriff’s Office seeking comment from Hobby has not been returned..