VALDOSTA — The parents of Kendrick Johnson are now accusing the sheriff, school superintendent and an FBI agent of placing the teenager’s body inside a rolled-up gym mat in an effort to cover up the cause of his death at Lowndes High School more than two years ago. 

The new accusations are part of an amendment to a lawsuit filed by the Johnson family following their son’s death. 

Johnson’s body was found upside down in a vertically stored gym mat at Lowndes High School in January 2013. A state autopsy ruled Johnson’s death accidental. The Johnson family insists their son died of foul play.

The court documents filed by the family’s attorney this week name Lowndes County Sheriff Chris Prine, Lowndes County School Superintendent Wes Taylor and FBI Agent Rick Bell as supposed participants in a cover-up. 

The complaint was filed in response to a July 10 court order requiring Kenneth and Jacquelyn Johnson to provide “a more definite statement” concerning the claims and allegations they made in a $100 million civil suit filed in January. The original lawsuit suit claimed Bell, his two sons and 35 local and state officials either directly caused or covered up the cause of 17-year-old Johnson’s death.

The complaint accuses Taylor, Prine and Bell of agreeing to cover up “the true cause” of Kendrick’s death, and claims the three men physically put Johnson’s body “upside down inside a rolled-up gym mat” and placed it in the corner of the school’s old gym with the idea that his body would be discovered by Taylor’s daughter the following morning. 

In response to the amended complaint, attorneys for the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office and the Lowndes County School System said Wednesday they intend to sue the Johnsons under Georgia’s abusive litigation statute when the case comes to an end.

On Wednesday, LCSO attorney Jim Elliott sent abusive litigation letters to the Johnsons and their attorney giving the parents 30 days to drop the complaint.

LCSO attorney Jim Elliott said, “The Amended Complaint sets forth myriad false, outrageous, scurrilous and scandalous allegations of criminal conduct, based solely ‘upon information and belief,’ against Sheriff Prine, his deputies and many others. These patently frivolous and abusive claims include the completely unfounded and malicious accusation that Sheriff Prine, Lowndes School Superintendent Wes Taylor and FBI Special Agent Richard Bell personally hid Kendrick Johnson’s dead body in the rolled-up mat in the old gym at Lowndes High School. The Johnsons and their lawyer have been repeatedly asked to identify witnesses or other evidence that support their claims. In over two and one-half years, the Johnsons and their lawyer have never identified a single witness or a shred of evidence to support any of what they say or claim.”

LCS attorney Warren Turner characterized the court filing as “even more outrageous, false and baseless allegations, saying there is no support for the claims.”

U.S. Attorney Michael Moore opened a federal investigation into Johnson’s death in fall 2013. Moore’s investigation continues.