DALTON, Ga. — A Whitfield County grand jury declined to indict Varnell Police Chief Lyle Grant on criminal charges after hearing evidence from a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent concerning Grant’s providing a county-owned, encrypted radio to a Dalton wrecker service.

The “no bill” from the grand jury effectively ends any criminal case against Grant for this matter.

The Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office referred the incident to the GBI in March after Grant gave the radio to Bob Cummings, owner of Bob’s Wrecker Service in Dalton. The sheriff’s office said in a statement at the time, “It was determined shortly after starting the investigation that criminal charges could arise from this incident, therefore the case was turned over to the GBI to investigate.”

Attempts to contact Grant and his attorney, Marcus Morris, were unsuccessful Thursday afternoon, and messages left for them were not immediately returned.

Despite the decision by the grand jury, Varnell Manager Mike Brown said Grant will remain on paid administrative leave until Tuesday’s City Council meeting at 6 p.m. at City Hall. Mayor Tom Dickson placed Grant on leave on April 30 with Lt. Greg Fowler serving as interim chief. Brown said taking Grant off of paid administrative leave would be up to the council members.

District Attorney Bert Poston said evidence was presented by GBI Special Agent Steve Rogers to the grand jury. Poston and Rogers presented the case, and after their presentation Grant was allowed to make a statement and answer questions from both Poston and the members of the grand jury. 

Public officials and law enforcement officers are afforded an opportunity that regular citizens are not to make a statement to a grand jury if they are accused of a crime in the performance of their official duties. Morris was in the grand jury room during Grant’s statement, but was only allowed to speak privately with Grant if Grant needed legal advice. 

“Mr. Morris had no speaking role in the process,” Poston said. “The defendant makes a statement and is subject to questioning by members of the grand jury and the prosecutor. I don’t want to get into the particulars, but yes, I asked him questions and the grand jury also asked questions.”

In an incident report, the sheriff’s office noted the possibility of felony theft by conversion “due to Chief Grant converting Whitfield County-owned property to private use when he knowingly and willfully gave/loaned the radio to Robert Cummings to use in his private business.” Another possible charge was reckless conduct, “due to Chief Grant providing an encrypted police radio to a private citizen and his employees to use and disregarding the potential safety risks to law enforcement officers engaged in undercover/sting/narcotics operations.”

Poston said the only charge he presented to the grand jury was theft by taking for “appropriating property to (Grant’s) own use.” The charge was a felony based on the value of the radio. Poston said he didn’t press for the reckless conduct charge.

“I think the theory behind that (reckless conduct) was by providing the radio to a private citizen it might jeopardize someone’s safety,” Poston said. “There was no evidence that had ever happened, and I didn’t feel that was sufficient to even present to the grand jury.” 

Poston said there were aspects of the case that “were particularly significant.” The radios are owned by Whitfield County and are provided to the municipal police departments of Cohutta, Tunnel Hill and Varnell. Poston said there was no policy in place concerning the radios among the county and the cities.

“I think a big factor, certainly for me, was that when the radios were signed out to the cities, there never was any sort of agreement about what you could or could not do with the radios,” Poston said. “There was not a memorandum of understanding or interagency agreement between the entities. That is something that probably should be looked into.”

Poston also said there was “no financial or other personal benefit” to Grant. 

In the incident report, Cummings is reported as saying he asked Grant for the encrypted radio because “he was having to pay one of his employees to stay at the office and monitor the phone calls coming in” since a new digital radio system can’t be heard on traditional scanners. “Cummings asked Varnell Police Chief Lyle Grant if he could obtain an encrypted radio to use and Chief Grant agreed,” the report said.

Grant stated after the investigation began that Bob’s Wrecker Service is the only wrecker service on call for the city when wrecks occur.

“I did not intend to violate any laws or policies,” Grant said in March. “I only intended to benefit the city of Varnell. When we would have an accident, he would be alerted to it a little bit quicker (with the radio). He would hear when we have a wreck here in Varnell and dispatch a wrecker here a little bit quicker.”

Poston said he took those comments into consideration.

“There were considerations on both sides of the equation whether that is an actual benefit to the city of Varnell or a private business,” Poston said. “Chief Grant’s public statements have been that it would improve response times and that is why he gave the radio out. Whether that is a good policy is another matter, but it wasn’t a legal question.”

Poston said there was obvious benefit to Bob’s Wrecker Service, but not any criminal activity. 

“There was certainly some benefit for Bob in his wrecker service, but there was no kickback or any sort of payments made to Lyle,” Poston said. “There was no evidence of it, and we do not believe that any financial arrangements were made. Fundamentally what happened was that if the radio was provided to a private citizen that is a misallocation of public property but is it a crime under these circumstances? If the primary intent of it was to benefit the city of Varnell, then that would not be a criminal matter but a matter between the chief and his City Council or mayor. I felt like there was evidence on both of those questions, but the grand jury had all of the evidence to make a decision.”

Poston said there was also documentation of the radio being assigned in Varnell’s records, and “there was no attempt to keep the fact a secret …”

“I can’t speak for what matters the grand jury found most compelling or on what they based their decision, but from my perspective as a prosecutor, those three facts were significant,” Poston said. 

A grand jury is not the same entity as a jury in a criminal trial, and the grand jury does not need a unanimous vote to approve an indictment. There are 23 members of a grand jury and 12 must vote for an indictment to be approved.

Poston said despite his work on cases presented by the Varnell Police Department, he did not feel the need to recuse himself from presenting the case against Grant.

“I have prosecuted other public officials before, and my only feeling on a conflict is if we have a personal relationship with the person outside of our work,” Poston said. “I didn’t think I had a conflict in this matter, I know Lyle Grant professionally, but not personally. I can’t get into what was said in the grand jury. My position was that I would not put my finger on the scale at all and merely present the facts.”

A representative of the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the decision by the grand jury and referred questions to the GBI. Joe Montgomery, GBI Calhoun office assistant special agent in charge, was not in the office on Thursday and could not be reached for comment.