GEORGIA – A former Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office deputy plead guilty today in U.S. District Court to conspiring with two civilians to unlawfully detain and take money from Hispanic motorists, federal officials said.
Jason Stacks, a former deputy, plead guilty to conspiring to use his law enforcement authority to unlawfully detain and take money from motorists, officials said.
“Mr. Stacks admitted that he conspired to use his badge to unlawfully detain and take money from motorists,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute officers who seek to profit from the violation of civil rights.”
Stacks admitted that he conspired with two civilians to get Hispanic motorists to make unlawful traffic stops so that the conspirators could demand the motorists pay money in order to avoid arrest and/or deportation, officials said.
On Aug. 16, 2013, Stacks, while acting as a Lowdes County deputy, unlawfully detained at least four motorists. One of the motorists, identified in the plea documents by the initials T.C., was approached by Stacks and then approached by Stacks’s two Spanish-speaking co-conspirators, who explained to T.C. that he would be sent to jail or deported if he did not pay $500.
When T.C. responded that he did not have $500 in his car, the co-conspirators drove T.C. to his residence and took $300 in cash from him. Stacks and the two co-conspirators divided the $300 among them, authorities said.