I-TEAM UPDATE: ‘No evidence’ Waynesboro cops violated policy in arrest of ‘prominent businessman’
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - An internal investigation of the Waynesboro Police Department finds “no evidence” officers violated policy when investigating the alleged crimes of Gery Flakes Jr. and Daniel Nunn.
AMZ Investigations, LLC, conducted it after attorney Edward Tarver filed a formal complaint and request for an investigation by an authorized external agency on behalf of Flakes. According to the report, Michael Rundles, a retired agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, conducted the investigation.
A TALE OF TWO ARRESTS WHEN BURKE COUNTY SHERIFF ALFOZO WILLIAMS INTERVENED
Waynesboro police arrested both Flakes and Nunn back in November of 2022 under warrants alleging they exploited an elderly woman in the sale of her home. However, our I-TEAM uncovered each man had a very different experience.
Nunn sat in jail for several weeks before he was allowed to bond out.
Gary Flakes Jr. spent no time behind bars. He doesn’t have a mug shot, and there is no record of his arrest in the system.
The only difference? Burke County Sheriff Alfonzo Williams got involved, telling the I-TEAM Flakes was a prominent businessman who has been in the community for years.
COMPLAINT FILED FOR INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION
All charges against Flakes and Nunn were eventually dropped, but after our investigation, Flakes decided to fight back.
In September, the I-TEAM first told you Flakes’ attorney sent a formal complaint to Waynesboro’s police chief requesting an internal affairs investigation.
Flakes claims the investigation that led to his arrest was flawed. He accused the police of giving bad information to the courts and, in turn, to the I-TEAM.
But the results of the investigation now say otherwise.
NO RECORD OF FLAKES’ ARREST
If you went looking for a record of Flakes’ arrest, you would not find it in any computer system. That’s because it doesn’t exist – on paper. The I-TEAM found it on Waynesboro Police Department body cam, though.
In it, you hear Flakes tell officers he had been talking to “Alfonzo” and he had been “trying to get to the bottom of this.” Body cam also captures him asking his wife, “Did you talk to him?” In the new report, Flakes tells the investigator he asked his wife to call Williams.
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It’s important to note this is a Waynesboro Police Department case. Williams has no jurisdiction in this case, but as sheriff, he’s in charge of the Burke County Detention Center.
After his arrest, we know Flakes makes it to the detention center because body cam captures his ride there. The Waynesboro officer’s camera is still rolling as he escorts Flakes inside the jail. He begins the initial paperwork, but not long after, the officer leaves.
This is when Flakes should have been fingerprinted and had his mugshot taken, but that never happened.
REPORT SHEDS LIGHT ON SHERIFF WILLIAMS’ INVOLVEMENT
According to the internal investigation, Williams called the jail before Flakes was brought to the detention center. The report says Williams told the jailer, “Don’t let him go in front of the officer, out of respect,” but “as soon as the officer left, let him go deal with his emergency and he can turn himself in later.” (More on that emergency in a bit.)
Williams elaborated a little more when he was a radio guest on the Austin Rhodes show. During the broadcast, he said he told the jailer, “Don’t fingerprint him, don’t process him. Let him go deal with the emergency. And we’ll deal with this, this later. And they said, ‘OK, Sheriff, we’ll do that.’”
According to the new report, the Waynesboro police chief re it differently.
Chief Willie Burley told the investigator, “He was under the impression Flakes was going to be booked first, then released.” He says the “sheriff told him about Flakes’ son being in a wreck, and he was going to release him.”
REPORT ADDRESSES QUESTIONS ABOUT DEMENTIA
Another person at the center of our I-TEAM investigation is Aluan Bryant, known as Ms. Mona around town. Both Flakes and Daniel Nunn were arrested on felony charges related to the sale of her house.
The warrants note Flakes paid $28,467 even though the fair market value was $71,001, accusing him of taking advantage of an elderly/disabled woman. The report establishes Flakes as someone who invests in homes like Miss Mona’s: buying them, improving them and then flipping them for a profit.
Flakes told the investigator, “In regards to the dementia, the news media demolished him.” The report goes on to say, “Flakes stated everyone pushed the issue Bryant was diagnosed with dementia.”
Because medical records are protected for privacy reasons, the I-TEAM could only get one document, an order the Waynesboro Police Department sent Bryant’s doctors for records “pertaining to a dementia diagnosis,” prior to the results of this internal investigation being released.
According to those internal investigation results, two different Waynesboro officers told the investigator that Bryant’s doctor provided them with a note stating Bryant was not mentally capable of making important decisions. However, they both reported they only had that note after the charges were dropped against Flakes and Nunn.
Both Waynesboro police officers also stated they received help from of the former Crimes Against the Vulnerable and Elderly – or C.A.V.E. – task force.
NEW INFORMATION FROM THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
Chief Assistant District Attorney Kevin Davis dismissed the warrants against Flakes and Nunn.
He met with the investigator and told him he reviewed some of the evidence. “There was some indication that Bryant at times was confused and disoriented,” Davis told the investigator.
As a prosecutor, he explained he would need to show the court Bryant was confused and disoriented at the exact moment she sold the house. Per Davis, Bryant’s doctor was unable to show that, and the closing attorney would testify Bryant “seemed fine” the day she sold her house.
“That creates reasonable doubt,” Davis said.
When Davis dismissed the warrants against Flakes and Nunn, that’s exactly what he checked on the document: probable cause for the warrant but not sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
“With dementia, you can have good days and bad days,” Davis told the investigator. “So it’s possible she was disoriented when she met with investigators but had a good day when she met with the lawyer and closed the sale.”
Davis also said when they made the decision to dismiss the charges, they did it “with a referral to legal services” to see “if there was any way they could help Bryant.”
WAYNESBORO POLICE CHIEF ADDRESSES RECORDS GIVEN TO I-TEAM
Part of Flakes’ concern was what was in the public record.
In his complaint, he specifically said WRDW/WAGT I-TEAM reports reflected “incomplete information and distorted facts.”
The investigator did not look into facts provided to the media because the Waynesboro Police Department did not provide those records.
Waynesboro Police Chief Burley wrote all information was completed through Frails and Wilson, Attorney at Law. That is the law firm that handles open records requests for the city of Waynesboro. That is the firm from which the I-TEAM received the results of our open records request.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Gary Flakes Jr. no longer owns Ms. Mona’s home. He sold it to Eddie Taylor for $50,000, netting Flakes a profit that essentially doubled his investment. Taylor also got a deal because the home was still under market value. Flakes said he arranged for Bryant to still live there and pay rent.
Taylor later sent Bryant an eviction letter.
Then Taylor sued Bryant for back rent in Magistrate Court.
Bryant countersued.
The case has been transferred to Superior Court because Bryant’s attorney requested a guardian ad litem to represent her because of her “diminished capacity.”
The next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2024. We have filed paperwork to ask permission to have our cameras in that hearing. We’ll keep you posted.
READ THE INVESTIGATION:
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