A Georgia county sheriff with a checkered career has resigned after pleading guilty to groping a TV personality during a Georgia Sheriff’s Association event in 2022.
Bleckley County Sheriff Kris Coody was accused of the grabbing Glenda Hatchett’s breast without consent at the event on Jan. 18 of last year. Hatchett is the star of the TV judge show, Judge Hatchett.
“He squeezed it. He then started rubbing on my breast until [DeKalb County Sheriff] Thomas Brown literally had to take his hand off of me and push him off,” Hatchett told the media after Coody pleaded guilty to the behavior on court on Monday, Aug. 21.
“I never expected that I would be so deeply affected by this,” Hatchett said about the assault, according to Messenger News. “I’ve never been the victim. I’ve been the advocate.”
“I was absolutely frozen,” she added. “I never felt so helpless in my entire life. And I was angry frankly. I was angry I didn’t slap him.”
“I had to file charges, there had to be accountability because the message needs to be clear,” she explained, “that you cannot do this. How dare you do this.”
Despite the allegations hanging over him since last year, Coody kept his job and his salary until his official resignation this week.
Hatchett, who in 2016 represented the family of a black man killed by police, slammed Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp for allowing Coody to stay in his position during the accusations, arrest, and beginnings of a trial. Thorough all this, “The governor did nothing,” Hatchett said, adding that it was all likely aimed at allowing the disgraced sheriff to keep his pension.
Despite pleading guilty, Coody still insists that he didn’t really “mean” to fondle the TV judge.
“To be clear, I had no intent to touch Ms. Hatchett inappropriately. Unfortunately, I acted in a careless manner and for that I have taken full responsibility for my actions,” Coody said in his resignation statement.
This is not the first time Coody has been accused of untoward actions. He was even fired for cause from a past policing position.
According to his record, Coody “voluntarily resigned” from the Georgia State Patrol after 19 years on the force. Howevert, ahead of his race for Sheriff, his record was sealed and voters were never allowed to see why he resigned.
But according to WMAZ-TV, Coody has several black marks on his record.
In 2007 he was accused of domestic violence against his girlfriend, an incident that was witnessed by his own son. In fact, it was his son who called 9-1-1.
Coody was then accused of refusing to cooperate with the police investigating the incident. For instance, he refused to answer “100 calls” from police looking to get his statement on the abuse. He also tried to cover the incident up by neglecting to tell his Georgia State Patrol bosses that he was arrested by the Cochran Police Dept.
In a separate incident, he was also reported for allowing a 12-year-old girl to drive his patrol car.
All this information was sealed and kept from voters in 2016 when Coody won 77 percent of the vote to become the Bleckley County Sheriff.
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