Grand jury indicts Glynn County police chief, 3 others

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A Glynn County grand jury investigating a scandal involving a former police officer who allegedly had sex with a confidential informant has indicted four current or former police officers, including current Glynn County Police Chief John Powell.

Arrest warrants were issued Thursday for Powell, current Vidalia Police Chief Brian Scott, and former Glynn County police Officers David Haney and David Hassler, according to Mark Spaulding, of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.

The jury found enough evidence to justify 20 charges, including violation of oath, attempt to commit a felony, influencing a witness, perjury and making false statements to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, according to court documents.

The charges go back to 2017 when information of the Glynn-Brunswick Narcotics Enformant Team investigator James Cassadra was having sex with an informant. The charges in the indictment resulted from his supervisors lying to protect Cassadra by giving false information to an agent with the GBI who was looking into the case.

Cassadra pleaded to two counts of Violation of Oath of Office, according to the Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.

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