No charges filed in Waynesboro kidnapping; evidence insufficient
WAYNESBORO, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The District’s Attorney’s Office has announced that they will not file charges in an incident involving a kidnapping.
On Friday, the office stated that the charges against Jacques Gardner, 34, for placing a child in a vehicle at night while her father went inside a convenience store to play lottery tickets.
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In February, the Waynesboro Police Department suspended an officer who was involved in the kidnapping incident. The investigation revealed officers never got the stranger’s identification, so they didn’t know who he was.
They were able to trace him down later, but that mistake is why one officer faces punishment.
The suspension lasted eight days for Ronald Bartlett, one of two officers involved in the incident. He also got demoted from his corporal status, a promotion he just received a day before this incident. He’s also on six-month probation and must be retrained in calls dealing with juveniles.
The investigation found the other officer involved, Sgt. Greg Stroud did not break any policy and will receive no disciplinary action.
According to authorities, the incident in question happened as the 7-year-old’s dad was being arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct on Jan. 22 at the El Cheapo gas station on Liberty Street.
While police were occupied with him, a stranger got the 7-year-old out of the dad’s truck and put her in his vehicle.
Notified by the dad about what he saw happening with his daughter, the man was stopped.
Gardner then offered to take the child home but was stopped by officers while the child’s mother was on the way to retrieve her.
He made no further attempts to leave the scene.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, it’s bound by law and cannot bring charges unsubstantiated by evidence.
The release states Gardner has no criminal history and a documented intellectual disability.
The office conducted a parallel investigation with the Waynesboro Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, no sufficient evidence was found to prove criminal intent by the standard of the law.
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