The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office will not pursue charges against Alpharetta’s deputy director of public safety, who was suspended by the city last week amid a police investigation into electronic threats and invasion of privacy allegations.
Wes McCall, who also serves on the Forsyth County school board, was placed on administrative leave last Wednesday after city officials were alerted to a complaint filed against McCall and others by their Forsyth County neighbors.
Two people filed complaints against McCall and other members of the Pleasant Manor Estates homeowner’s association alleging the HOA members took photos from their social media accounts, cropped them and altered them into different images, a sheriff’s office spokesman said.
RELATED: Alpharetta suspends deputy director of public safety amid investigation
The photos were then reportedly shared to a group text where neighbors would comment on them, according to the sheriff’s office report. The complaint names eight members of the HOA, including McCall’s wife.
Homeowner Ralph Richards told Channel 2 Action News he filed the complaint after learning that images of himself were being circulated in his Cumming neighborhood.
“There were about six images that had been created by stealing pictures of me off my Facebook page and pasting those, morphing those into lewd photographic images,” Richards said. “He’s a law enforcement officer. He should have put a stop to this the second it started. But instead, he was part of the group and went along with this.”
Despite the allegations, the Forsyth County investigators will not pursue criminal charges against McCall or any other HOA members mentioned in the complaint, a department spokesman said Tuesday.
Cpl. Pete Sabella said the sheriff’s office completed its investigation and determined no laws were violated in the exchange of messages.
“Should any additional evidence come to light, the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office will review such information,” Sabella said.
Despite being cleared in the criminal investigation, McCall remains on paid administrative leave from his job as Alpheretta’s deputy director of public safety, Alpharetta’s assistant city administrator James Drinkard said.
“It doesn’t change anything for us right now,” Drinkard said. “We still have an internal investigation we have to do.”
The city launched its own investigation into McCall after being notified of the criminal complaint by the sheriff’s office, Drinkard said last week, calling it standard procedure.
He said McCall won’t be able to return to work until the city’s investigation is also completed.
McCall has worked more than two decades for the city. He began his career with the Alpharetta Fire Department in 1999 and was appointed to the role of deputy public safety director in late 2014. He was elected to Forsyth County’s school board last year.
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