Sheriff John Everett and Investigator Kandy Dodd have been named in a federal law suit after a Chattooga County couple claims that an improperly obtained search warrant was used.

At issue was a warrant obtained by Sheriff Everett and Investigator Dodd to search Fleetwood Pawn to look for some stolen jewelry that the Sheriff’s Department believed had been sold to the store owners.  The owners of the business, Mark and Connie Gordon claim that the sheriff and investigator "duped" the magistrate judge into issuing a warrant to search their home to look for the stolen goods.

The suit claims that the sheriff’s "normal practice, procedure and custom of making false statements to obtain search warrants, directly lead to the violation of the plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment rights."

The suit was filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by Attornies Bobby Lee Cook and C. Sutton Connelly of Summerville and Atlanta Attorney Ranse Partin.