Bribery charges for Cohutta town attorney; Varnell police officer resigns

Oct. 15—District Attorney Bert Poston and Varnell Mayor Tom Dickson said members of the Varnell Police Department did not inform them before seeking a warrant for the arrest of Cohutta Town Attorney Todd Johnson for two counts of criminal attempt to commit a felony (bribery and extortion).

"I was not consulted," said Poston. "Nor was anyone else in my office."

"I found out after it was done," said Dickson.

Asked if he should have been alerted before the police department sought the warrant, Dickson said, "That's not something I'm going to discuss on the phone."

Johnson was booked into the Whitfield County jail Thursday and later released on bond.

Whitfield County Magistrate Judge Tom Phillips issued the warrant.

"I didn't recognize the name, and there was nothing that I saw that indicated there may be any other issues," Phillips said. "The police department presented probable cause, so I issued that warrant. It wasn't until several hours later that I found out this was an attorney."

Should the police department have alerted him to that fact?

"It would have been nice," he said.

The charges came after Johnson, who also represents clients as a private attorney, sent an email to Varnell Solicitor Bryan Rayburn regarding a client who had been stopped for speeding and a window tint violation by Varnell Police Officer Shawn Norris on Sept. 10 on Highway 201.

In the email, Johnson said Varnell had hired Norris, whom he called Morris, "against Bert Poston's advice" and that because of certain allegations against Norris "Bert will dismiss any of his charges according to my information."

A copy of the email was sent to the Dalton Daily Citizen by Varnell after an open records request.

In an email to the Dalton Daily Citizen, Poston confirmed the essence of that email.

"I found out in June about Officer Norris' history and reached out to (Varnell Police Chief Kyle Moreno) about it," Poston said. "I advised Moreno in early July that we would not, under any circumstances, put Norris on the witness stand in any case. It was my belief at the time that Norris would be terminated. I found out later that he had not been."

"We found out about Norris from the Public Defender's Office," Poston said. "So they knew as well as members of the private defense bar. I also talked to the DA (district attorney) in the Lookout Mountain (Judicial) Circuit and to the GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) about the prior case against Norris before telling Chief Moreno our position on him as a witness."

Moreno said Poston's stance "created a personnel issue for us as to what do do with his employment. That takes time to make sure we handle everything right. If he can't handle all of the functions of a patrol officer, we would have to replace him with someone else."

In 2018 Norris and another officer with the Walker County Sheriff's Office were charged with attempted rape. The charges were dismissed in 2019.

"The district attorney indicated that the state would be unable to present sufficient evidence to prove the charges due to the general unavailability of the victim," according to the individual officer profile for Norris compiled by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (POST), which was provided to the Dalton Daily Citizen by an associate of Johnson at Johnson's request.

Dickson said he found out about the allegations against Norris after Poston contacted Moreno. Asked why the city kept Norris on after the district attorney had told them Norris could not be used as a witness in court, Dickson said, "If there were charges against him somewhere, he would not be able to be POST certified. He is POST certified."

According to Norris' POST profile, before he was an officer Norris was found guilty in 2002 of misdemeanor stalking and harassing communication. For actions in 2011, he was indicted for criminal trespass, stalking, criminal attempt to commit aggravated stalking and obstruction of an officer while with the Ware County Sheriff's Office. In 2014, the charges were placed on the dead docket (not prosecuted) with several stipulations, including that he not have contact with another officer who was the subject of the allegations and that he was banned from the judicial circuit in which he had been working. In 2015 the charges were "nolle prossed," abandoned by the prosecutor.

In 2016, POST placed Norris on 36 months probation and ordered him to complete a domestic violence course and issued a public reprimand.

According to Norris' personnel file with Varnell, Norris received good references from a half dozen people at former places of employment.

Moreno said after reviewing all of the facts the Varnell Police Department hired Norris and placed him "on an extended probationary period."

"Typically, officers in our agency are on a standard year probationary period," he said. "His was extended to a year and a half. He started in November 2021, so he was still in his probationary period."

City officials said Norris submitted his resignation from the police department on Oct. 2. The resignation is effective Saturday.

Moreno said Norris stepped down on his own.

"He was looking for a job that provides health insurance," he said.

A phone number for Norris could not be located immediately.

Johnson's email to Rayburn noted the citation showed his client was traveling on Highway 71, when the stop was on Highway 201. He said he was trying to resolve his client's case.

"I was hoping a small donation to the Varnell cause would keep (his client) in Atlanta, but I await your sage advice, sir," the email said.

In an incident report, Moreno said based on the comments in the email about a donation, Johnson "is attempting to bypass due process and reward Varnell if his request is fulfilled."

The case was assigned to Varnell Police Department Lt. Winston Swilley.

In a supplemental report, Swilley said after reviewing the evidence he had determined Johnson "has willfully and knowingly committed the offense of criminal attempt to commit bribery and criminal attempt to commit extortion .. to bypass due process to get two citations dismissed by monetary means" and referenced the section of Johnson's email mentioning "a small donation to the Varnell cause." He said Johnson's reference to "Officer Norris's past shows a substantial step in (committing) extortion by stating events he states as fact even though the charges were dropped" against Norris.

Johnson referred questions to his attorney, Leslie Waycaster, who said Johnson's email is typical of communications between opposing attorneys. He said Johnson was pointing out weaknesses in the case against his client and trying to save his client from having to take a day off from work and travel to Varnell.

"Todd was just pointing out the officer's credibility would be in question (if it went to trial)," Waycaster said.

He said Johnson's remark about "a small donation to the Varnell cause would keep (his client) in Atlanta" was not an attempt at bribery.

"There is procedure in Georgia called a predisposition where if you get a ticket you can pay the fine and it stays with the city or county where the ticket was issued," he said. "But the ticket doesn't get reported at the state level, so it doesn't affect your points on your driver's license and it doesn't show up on your driving record where your insurance rates are affected. That's what Todd is talking about."

Waycaster said Johnson's email was just an attempt to communicate that he thought there were issues with the ticket and he thought he could win the case if it went to trial but he'd rather settle it through predisposition than have his client have to come back to Varnell.

"He's just trying to point out some reasons why Bryan Rayburn ought to consider this man for a predisposition fine," he said. "I just don't see how you get from that to attempted bribery."