Fired deputy denied

Former jailer loses bid to get job back

Athens Banner-Herald/February 9, 2007
By Todd DeFeo

A Clarke County sheriff's deputy who was fired after investigators learned he was recruiting prisoners into a black supremacist cult will not be reinstated, a personnel hearing officer decided.

But the hearing officer upheld the sheriff's decision to fire William York based on job failures unrelated to the former jailer's ties to the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors.

York tried to manipulate a polygraph test and could not be contacted while on administrative leave, according to a two-page decision handed down by Denny Galis, a personnel hearing officer for the county.

York and four other deputies with suspected Nuwaubian ties were placed on administrative leave last summer; four were fired in November and the fifth was allowed to resign.

York and three other deputies appealed their firings following a sheriff's department internal investigation determined that their Nuwaubian involvement led them to break policies at the Clarke County Jail.

Evidence that York was connected to "possible Nuwaubian activities was inconclusive at best and did not play a role in my decision," Galis said in the decision.

York tried to alter the results of a polygraph given during the internal investigation test by "controlling breath," which caused the results to be inconclusive. The former deputy continued to control his breath even after the polygraph examiner asked him to stop, according to the internal investigation.

Galis said a GBI polygraph examiner's testimony that York tried to manipulate the examination was "very credible."

York also "was not reachable as required while he was on administrative leave with pay," Galis said.

York declined to explain why he didn't return a message from his employer, according to Galis' decision, which Athens-Clarke County released Friday, after officials informed York.

The internal investigation completed last year concluded, in part, that the fired deputies undermined jail security by recruiting prisoners into their sect and urging inmates to rebel against white deputies.

According to the sheriff's probe, York and the other fired deputies - Rena Jennings, Anthony Montgomery and Bobby Dixon - followed the teachings of Nuwaubian leader Dwight "Malachi" York. The leader is serving a 135-year federal prison sentence on child molestation, racketeering, money laundering and other charges.

In addition to urging black inmates to give white deputies a hard time and not give black jailers any problems, the internal investigation concluded the fired deputies also violated policy by distributing Nuwaubian literature to inmates and trying to recruit inmates into their sect.

Some Nuwaubian deputies were upset by inmates who made fun of the group and its leader, the investigation found.

During a Jan. 29 appeals hearing, York cross-examined former superior officers, colleagues and others. The former deputy could have had an attorney, but chose to represent himself, officials said.

A fifth deputy affiliated with the Nuwaubians, Leon Adams, did not appeal, as he was allowed to resign in lieu of termination.