A Forest Park police officer was recently arrested and charged with several felony offenses after a woman accused him of harassing her, officials announced Tuesday.
James Cameron Kea is facing 13 felony charges, including computer trespass, computer invasion of privacy, identity fraud, computer forgery and possession of cocaine. He is also facing a misdemeanor charge of stalking.
The Sandy Springs police department arrested him Feb. 7 and he was booked into the Fulton County jail the following day. He remained there Wednesday, but was granted a bond of $61,500.
On Jan. 28, the department received a call from a woman saying her ex-boyfriend was harassing her, authorities stated. Detectives said they discovered Kea harassed the woman on “several different occasions.”
Sandy Springs police spokesman Sgt. Leon Millholland confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that police are still trying to figure out what type of device Kea used that led to the technology-related charges. He added that the alleged crimes “definitely” happened while Kea was off-duty, but officials are still trying to determine if they also occurred while he was on-duty.
Kea began working for Forest Park police on Dec. 16. The department has not responded to the AJC’s inquiries.
The last time Kea held a law enforcement position in Georgia was in June 2014, when he resigned while under investigation from the Riverdale Police Department, records from the Peace Officers Standards and Training Council show.
Riverdale police Chief Todd Spivey, on a call with the AJC, said he worked for the department when Kea was hired in December 2010 but he was not chief, “the hiring authority or the disciplinary authority.” According to POST records, Kea was the “alleged subject” of nine disciplinary complaints, seven on which were sustained.
He was placed on the Early Warning System, which Spivey said is common practice for officers who receive a number of violations, in April 2014, and signed acknowledging that he was under review. He then received three additional complaints for his behavior before resigning, POST records show.
There was one instance when Kea received a conduct violation after taking a video of a person in a wheelchair, Spivey said.
“He just had a number of policy violations from the city of Riverdale and he resigned while there were still three open files on him,” Spivey said.
Sandy Springs police did not release further details into the incident. POST records show Kea’s Basic Law Enforcement certification was suspended after his arrest.
The AJC has reached out to Kea’s attorney for comment.
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
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