Chattooga County's outgoing  Sheriff  and an investigator will be in federal court in Rome on January 14 before Judge Harold Murphy. 

At least five people have received subpoenas in the case, according to Summerville  attorney Bobby Lee Cook, who represents  Mark and Connie Gordon. The Gordons  claim Sheriff' s Department Investigator Kandy Dodd deceived a magistrate judge into signing a warrant to search their house without any probable cause and that  Sheriff John Everett supervised the decision, according to the federal lawsuit filed in Rome. The suit also claims this isn’t the first time Everett has encouraged one of his employees to give false statements to obtain a search warrant.

Filed by Cook, the suit states that, on April 14 2011, Dodd first obtained a search warrant through the magistrate’s office to look through Fleetwood’s Pawn shop, which the Gordons own in Trion. But the lawsuit alleges Dodd then went back to get a second search warrant, telling the judge that the first warrant had an error and needed to be changed. Instead, the lawsuit claims, Dodd had written the Gordons’ home address in the place of the pawn shop address.The warrant claimed that several items from burglaries had been sold through the shop. The suit claims that  several personal items were taken and many haven’t been returned.

Cook told AM1180 he is ready for court.