Ticket-Fixing Complaint Against Evans Based on Website Comment | News

Mayor Chuck Shaheen says his ticket-fixing accusation against Police Chief Brett Evans is based partly on an anonymous comment made on a 13WMAZ.com story.

That's according to Amy McKinzie, Warner Robins' records manager.

Shaheen has asked a state agency to investigate several allegations against Evans, including ticket fixing.

After reporting on the C-11 form filed by Shaheen with the state Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, 13WMAZ's Lorra Lynch-Jones filed an open-records request with Warner Robins city officials for any documents to support the allegations against Evans.

Wednesday afternoon, McKinzie said Shaheen told her to respond by saying there were no documents to support the ticket-fixing complaint.

She said the allegation was based on an anonymous comment made at 13WMAZ.com, claiming that Evans fixed a ticket for a city official.

Shaheen said he thought the state agency should investigate that.

The alleged ticket-fixing, she said, is also based on other officer complaints to him that are undocumented, she said.

The form was signed by Shaheen and submitted to the state on Aug. 16. That's four days after the council voted to reduce Shaheen's suspension of the chief from seven days to two.

The "change of status" form cites that suspension. That came after an outside investigator found that Evans violated department policies by taking sides in last year's mayoral election. Evans reportedly had a sign for Shaheen's opponent, Chuck Chalk, in his yard.

The document cites several other issues in the past year between Shaheen and Evans.

Under "Reason for Disciplinary Action," Shaheen wrote: "Policy violation; also review GBI report 2009, grand jury concerns, ticket fixing, and evidence held without charges."

The GBI investigated what Evans knew about a break-in into the office of the late Mayor Donald Walker and whether Evans cooperated fully with a grand jury investigation into the case. In both cases, the GBI said Evans had committed no crime.

Shaheen and Evans have both declined to comment. But some city council members have called it part of Shaheen's ongoing battle to fire the chief.

The state agency could discipline Evans in various ways, including pulling his certification as a Georgia law-enforcement officer.