Poulan Police Scandal
From 2009 to 2025 Command leadership at the Poulan Police Department (in Poulan, Georgia) operated in complete clandestine corruption[1][2][3][4], without the knowledge of the lower ranked officers. Under the direction of the Police Chief (and several subordinate command staff), the police department and city council engaged in bribery, fraud, racketeering, theft, violation of firearms laws, narcotics distribution, illegal citation and arrest quotas, and forcible crimes upon persons[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. In Spring of 2022 the Poulan Police Scandal was officially reported by two officers who went directly to the District Attorney's Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation[5][7]. Unbeknownst to the officers reporting their own findings while employed as Poulan Police Officers, the Tift Judicial Circuit District Attorney, the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, and rogue officers at other police agencies were also involved in the illicit activities occurring at the City of Poulan[6][7][4][5].
Background
In March of 2022, Poulan Police Officers Zackery Watson and John Masters came upon evidence that their Police Chief, Larry Whisenant, was stealing narcotics from the department secured evidence locker[5][1]. They also learned that the Assistant Chief, Franklin Walker, was writing false police reports to cover up the theft[2][5]. They began to document their findings, and after several weeks reported their findings to the Region 15 GBI Special Agent in Charge, Kim Baker, as well as the Tift Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office Chief ADA Patrick Warren. Within two days of that reporting, both officers' employment at Poulan Police was ended[5][1][2] through an illegal termination.
According to multiple official reports written by a GA Peace Officer Standards and Training Investigator[1][2][18][19]; the GBI, the Tift County Sheriff's Office, Oglethorpe County Sheriff's Office, Hartwell Police Department, the Tift Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, and the entire GA Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (as well as staff support) were involved in multiple cover-up attempts[18], death threats[19], and public statements made contrary to direct evidence proving the scandal[19]. The two officers who initially reported the events they witnessed began to learn the full extent of the corruption during the course of an illegal and unjustified GA POST Investigation that was conducted by former Tifton Police Chief Douglas Dowdy[18].
One of the officers involved in reporting the scandal as a whistleblower who witnessed the corruption, John Masters, decided to publish a book in late 2024[5]. The book chronicled not only details of the scandal, but referenced the continued documentation by both officers of bribes, graft, theft, narcotics distribution, and other crimes that they learned about and investigated. In August of 2024, the entire set of documents, audio, photographs, and other evidence were released in a public data dump following Masters' interviews on the scandal as part of a series of interviews[1][2][18][19] into the scandal. Based on the information publicly made available, and by GA POST Investigator Douglas Dowdy's own admissions during his investigation[5], as well as direct evidence[1][2] collected by the reporting officers; the following police officers or public officials were directly involved in the scandal:
- Larry Whisenant (Poulan Police Chief)[1][2][5]
- Franklin Walker (Former Poulan Police Assistant Chief)[2]
- Tommy Coleman (Former Albany, GA Mayor and Former Poulan City Attorney)[1][2][4][5]
- Franklin T. Coleman (Poulan City Attorney and Poulan City Solicitor)[1][2][5]
- Don Whitaker (Worth County Sheriff)[18][20]
- Adam Celenski (Worth County Sheriff's Narcotics Officer)[18][5]
- Kim Baker (GBI Special Agent in Charge Region 15)[5][6][7][8][18]
- Chris Hosey (GBI Director)[5][6][7][8][18]
- Bryce Johnson (Former Tift Judicial Circuit District Attorney)[1][2][5]
- Patrick Warren (Tift Judicial Circuit District Attorney)[1][2][5]
- Douglas Dowdy (Region 5 GA POST Investigator and Former Tifton Police Chief)[1][2][5][18][19]
- Steve Hyman (Tifton Police Chief and member of GA POST Council)[18][19][1][2][5]
- Jason Taft (Oglethorpe County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy)[2][5]
- Ernie Ruark (Oglethorpe County Sheriff's Office Captain)[2][5]
- Stan Sayer (Hartwell Police Assistant Chief)[2][5]
- Paul Agnew (Former Hartwell Police Sergeant)[2][5]
- Scott Marunich (Elberton Police Chief)[2][18][19]
- Andy Hester (Turner County Sheriff and member of GA POST Council)[2][1][5]
- Mike Ayers (Former Director of GA POST)[1][2][5][18][19]
- Chris Harvey (Director of GA POST)[1][2][5][18][19]
- Terry McCormick (Deputy Director of GA POST)[18][19][5]
- Allen Poole (Director of Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety)[4][2][5][18][20]
- Emerson Lundy (Law Enforcement Liaison with Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety)[1][2][5][7][18]
- D. Parks White (Northern Judicial Circuit District Attorney)[2][6][7][8]
None of the officers involved were ever investigated, and apart from the illegal POST Investigation, no serious investigation into any of the events that occurred since 2009 has ever taken place[5][6][7][18].
Aftermath
In October of 2024, publishing house Double Duck Productions validated the documentation and evidence that John Masters and Zackery Watson had retained during their investigation into the Poulan Police Chief and the subsequent scandal[5][19]. The non-fiction biography of the scandal was published as Blue Line Rogue: Corruption in Georgia[5]. Three total editions have been published since November of 2024, and a copy is in the process of being registered in the Library of Congress[5]. Despite the book[5], interviews with former officers[4][1][2][6][7][8][18][19], citizen complaints[21][22][23], and multiple investigative journalists exposing the department under the leadership of Larry Whisenant[20][4][20]; no investigation into any of the events occurring since his leadership assumption in 2009 of the Poulan Police has ever taken place. Officers who have attempted to speak out, have had their personal and professional reputations destroyed by GA POST, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and have been denied training at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, at the open and public behest of Larry Whisenant[5][4].
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 Larkins, David. The DG Hamblin Show. 12 August 2024. https://youtu.be/fpbIBQv74wY?si=Z0_RshNEEDW_eRFb
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 Larkins, David. The DG Hamblin Show. 12 August 2024. https://youtu.be/TzjB0XxWQL0?si=FXQFYlS4wnhzpWbv
- ↑ WALB News 10, Albany. Speed Trap Signs Stirs Up Poulan Area. 05 August 2014. https://www.walb.com/story/26204559/speed-trap-sign-stirs-up-poulan-area/
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Pierrotti, Andy. ANF Investigates. Pressured to Write Tickets. 09 October 2024. https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/10/09/pressured-write-tickets-former-officers-speak-out/
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 5.19 5.20 5.21 5.22 5.23 5.24 5.25 5.26 5.27 5.28 5.29 5.30 5.31 5.32 5.33 Masters, John. Blue Line Rogue:Corruption in Georgia. Double Duck Productions, 2024 (1st Edition), 2025 (2nd and 3rd Editions).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 The Last Dispensation Podcast. 24 October 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTE-SO4z_J0
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 Attwood, Shaun. Shaun Attwood True Crime Podcast. 09 May 2025. https://audioboom.com/posts/8717930-active-officer-expose-s-usa-police-corruption-john-masters
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 The Paddy Wagon Podcast. Episode 33. 14 May 2025. https://www.paddywagonpodcast.com/e/ep-33-corruption-in-policing-ft-officer-john-masters/
- ↑ GBI Press Release. Georgia Bureau of Investigation. GBI Arrest Couple on Child Abuse Charges in Worth County. 22 August 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171031013741/https://gbi.georgia.gov/press-releases/2017-08-22/gbi-arrests-couple-child-abuse-charges-worth-county
- ↑ Wallace, Jim. WALB, Albany. Poulan Mayor Arrested on Drug Charges. 07 September 2012.
- ↑ WALB, Albany. Poulan Mayor Dies. 12 October 2020. https://www.walb.com/2020/10/12/poulan-mayor-dies/
- ↑ WALB, Albany. Police Officer Couple Arrested for Child Abuse. 22 August 2017. https://www.walb.com/story/36189906/police-officer-couple-arrested-for-child-abuse/
- ↑ Atlanta Journal Constitution. South Georgia Couple, Both Police Officers, Charged with Child Abuse. 24 August 2017. https://www.ajc.com/news/local/south-georgia-couple-both-police-officers-charged-with-child-abuse/lctc6VngfK8OL1uXNSGswK/
- ↑ Egan, Leigh. Crime Online. Married Police Officers Arrested for Abusing Adopted Children. 23 August 2017. https://www.crimeonline.com/2017/08/23/mom-and-dad-police-officers-arrested-for-child-abuse/
- ↑ NY POST. Police Officer Couple Arrested for Mistreating Adopted Kids. 23 August 2017. https://www.crimeonline.com/2017/08/23/mom-and-dad-police-officers-arrested-for-child-abuse/
- ↑ Washington Times, District of Columbia. Police Officers Charged with Mistreating Their Children. 24 August 2017. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/aug/24/police-officers-charged-with-mistreating-their-chi/
- ↑ Associated Press. Couple Who Are Both Police Accused of Mistreating Children. 22 August 2017. https://apnews.com/general-news-regional-us-national-national-44c0d5f6fb2e4e199349b51813b1fb16
- ↑ 18.00 18.01 18.02 18.03 18.04 18.05 18.06 18.07 18.08 18.09 18.10 18.11 18.12 18.13 18.14 18.15 18.16 18.17 Larkins, David. The DG Hamblin Show. 19 September 2024. https://youtu.be/UbEClU9ewto?si=hegIIN6_3ch_Ff1d
- ↑ 19.00 19.01 19.02 19.03 19.04 19.05 19.06 19.07 19.08 19.09 19.10 19.11 Larkins, David. The DG Hamblin Show. 31 January 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXQVkXIQ0u8
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 Worsley, Jamie. WALB, Albany. WALB Investigates Two Towns Some Refer to as 'Speed Traps'. 28 December 2023. https://www.walb.com/2023/12/28/walb-investigates-whats-speeding-worth-we-take-look-two-south-ga-towns/
- ↑ WALB News 10, Albany. Speed Trap Signs Stirs Up Poulan Area. 05 August 2014. https://www.walb.com/story/26204559/speed-trap-sign-stirs-up-poulan-area/
- ↑ WALB Albany. 'Speed Trap' Sign May Return to Poulan. 15 August 2014. https://www.walb.com/story/26292704/speed-trap-sign-may-return-to-poulan/
- ↑ Valenzuela, Aaryn. WALB, Albany. Poulan Man's Speed Trap Sign Stolen. 11 February 2015. https://www.walb.com/story/28086875/poulan-mans-speed-trap-sign-stolen/
