A second deputy with the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office has lost his job and been taken into custody following an internal review into how employees have been using the agency’s Flock license plate reader system.
Former Deputy Jonathan Thomas was terminated and booked into the Habersham County Detention Center.
He faces a felony charge of violation of oath of office along with a misdemeanor charge for misusing license plate data. Thomas had worked for the sheriff’s office since December 2, 2024.
What the Audit Found
According to the sheriff’s office, the internal audit showed Thomas pulled retained license plate information through the Flock system for reasons unrelated to police work. Investigators say the search was tied to someone Thomas had a personal relationship with at the time. Officials have not released the identity of that person or pinpointed the exact date the access took place.
This marks the second termination connected to the department’s ongoing audit of Flock usage. A different deputy was previously fired and arrested after a similar review turned up unauthorized searches.
Sheriff Robin Krockum said the department is committed to rooting out this kind of behavior as the audit continues, noting that accountability remains a priority for anyone found to have abused system access.
Tighter Rules for Searches
In response to the pattern of misuse, the sheriff’s office has overhauled its internal policy for license plate lookups. Deputies can no longer run a specific plate search on their own. Instead, a supervisor now has to sign off first, documenting the reason for the search and confirming it ties to an active case number before entering it into the system.
On top of that written approval, deputies must also radio the department’s dispatch center so the search gets logged there as well, creating a second layer of tracking for every lookup.
The new two step approval process has significantly shrunk the pool of people who can run these searches, cutting the number of authorized supervisors from 39 down to just 23.
Krockum framed the changes as part of a broader effort to keep the department transparent with the public, saying the agency intends to keep auditing the system and holding accountable anyone who violates the trust placed in them.
The investigation into Thomas remains open. Once detectives wrap up the case file, it will be handed over to the District Attorney’s Office, which will decide how to proceed with prosecution. No mugshot for Thomas had been released as of this report.
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