Richmond County Deputy Fired

By Fraendy Clervaud
WJBF News Channel 6 Reporter
Published: October 10, 2008

Augusta, GA---Richmond County deputy Ronnie Collins was terminated early Friday. Sheriff Ronnie Strength says Collins was untruthful during his hiring process. Collins is also at the center of an investigation at his previous job at spirit creek middle school. According to Richmond County Board of Education leaders, an email surfaced alleging Collins and some faculty members were having inappropriate relations at school. The alleged contact took place last school year. Collins left Spirit Creek and got a new job at the sheriff’s office in April. That move happened before the investigation was launched by the board of education. According to Sheriff Strength Collins background was clean and he passed the interview. However when the board of education contacted the sheriff about the alleged misconduct, Collins was terminated. Sheriff says he felt Collins wasn’t being truthful about his past actions at Spirit Creek middle. So far the investigation doesn’t show if any students were involved.

Louis Svehla, Richmond County Board of Education: “Part of the allegation is that it may be occurred on school grounds. When you talking board property that’s when you get into another place that’s an ethics and that kind of stuff.”

No word yet on if faculty members linked to this investigation have been suspended or terminated.