Commissioner seeks records on forfeited property and cash; county audits and investigations underway

Commissioner Jeff Hatcher told the Geneva County Commission he filed an open-records request with the Sheriff for records related to forfeiture of personal property, condemnation and sale of guns, and related financial receipts. Hatcher said the Sheriff's Department recently returned 40 guns and $5,060.94 taken in 2020; in an audit of one selected year between 2014 and 2025 he found records showing 20 guns and $18,600 in cash that were confiscated but not accounted for.

Hatcher urged fuller accounting and said some confiscated funds should have been condemned and deposited into the County General Fund before potential return to the Sheriff for law-enforcement expenditures. County Attorney Phil Eldridge said the Commission has already requested an audit and inventory from the State Examiners, the Attorney General’s office and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, and that Eldridge represents the Commission—not the Sheriff—and has a conflict in advising the Sheriff's Department because of the active audits. Eldridge explained that under the county’s amended Open Records Policy (adopted after an October 2024 law change), the Commission can produce only records under the Commission’s custody and control; custody for some records (Sheriff’s Office, Probate, Revenue, Reappraisal) resides with those offices.

Administrator Cindy Williams reminded the Sheriff of statutory timelines under the Open Records Act: ten days to acknowledge receipt and 15 business days to respond. Williams also said State Examiners inspected the evidence room and recommended additional security, such as bars on windows.

The meeting record shows the commission’s request for audits and that the Sheriff's Department must respond to the open-records request directly; no final accounting was produced during the meeting.