TOWNS COUNTY, Ga. — Gov. Brian Kemp suspended Towns County Sheriff Kenneth Henderson for 60 days as an independent committee of other sheriffs and the Attorney General investigated claims of misconduct.
Channel 2 Action News reported when the committee was formed in September in response to claims that Henderson and Deputy Austin Bradburn violated their oaths of office.
Both were indicted Monday related to an incident on Dec. 13, 2024, when Hiawassee Officer Jose Carvajal was falsely detained and arrested.
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Bradburn is accused of filing a false report, saying he had been the victim of an aggravated assault, maintaining the claim during an investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, according to the indictment record.
The indictment says Bradburn falsely reported that while stopping a vehicle for a traffic violation, he was attacked by the driver and shot while struggling for his gun.
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According to the indictment record, Henderson is accused of insulting Carvajal and physically battering him in an “insulting and provoking manner,” while Carvajal performed his duties as a police officer.
In previous statements shared by Henderson, Bradburn’s claim of being shot was responded to by Carvajal. When Carvajal assisted, Henderson said “his interjection of himself into the investigation was unlawful and unwarranted.”
The indictment record states that Henderson pushed and insulted Carvajal and tried to prevent him from performing his duties, while responding to the situation.
Henderson’s statement continues, saying that while he “was checking on further medical assistance for the fallen Deputy, seeing that the crime scene was secured, coordinating the search for the perpetrator and communication with the GBI, Carvajal contaminated the crime scene, tampered with the most significant evidence, and obstructed our investigation by continuing to refuse to hand over the gun to the officer in charge, and was defiant, obstinate and combative.”
The sheriff said that Carvajal was a close friend of Bradburn, and that the wounds to Bradburn were understood to have been self-inflicted.
Henderson faces three counts of violating his oath of office as sheriff, falsely imprisoning someone, falsely imprisoning someone under color of law, simple battery on a police officer and simple battery.
Bradburn faces one count of violating his oath, as well as four counts of filing a false report of a crime and two counts of making false statements.
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