Former jailer arrested for supplying marijuana

A former jailer was arrested after allegedly trying to supply inmates with marijuana, but will only be charged with a misdemeanor.

Carlton Whitehead, 61, was arrested by GBI agents Friday – more than a year and a half after he was fired from the Burke County Sheriff’s Office after a suspicious package was spotted in the back of his pick-up in the jail parking lot.

At the time, investigators said the package contained five small bags of marijuana which were concealed in packets of loose tobacco. Security footage showed that another package had been dropped inside the parked truck earlier that day and taken inside by Whitehead, who admitted taking it in but said it only contained tobacco.

“He was fired on the spot after he failed a polygraph,” Sheriff Greg Coursey told The True Citizen during the investigation.

Charges were originally pending against a woman who was videotaped dropping off the packages, but according to Pat Morgan, assistant agent in charge of the Thomson GBI office, she will not be charged.

Agent Morgan said the GBI investigated the case then submitted their findings to the District Attorney’s office. Based on the DA’s recommendation, Whitehead was charged with a single misdemeanor under statute 42-4- 13(E), which makes it “unlawful to obtain for an inmate any item without consent of a jailer or law enforcement officer.”

He was released on a $1,300 bond.