District Attorney claims police misconduct found in two Wayne County cases

WAYNE COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - District Attorney Keith Higgins says his office found police misconduct in the connected drug and rape investigations of John Yonkosky and Weldon Lawson.

In a Tuesday news conference, Higgins said a Wayne County investigator named Brad Kicklighter made false statements in a police report, falsely testified at a preliminary hearing, and made false statements to the GBI.

The GBI Special Agent in charge of looking into the initial investigation took to the podium to announce their findings, saying “We conducted numerous interviews and investigative acts and at the conclusion of our investigation we were unable to establish probable cause to make any arrests.”

Higgins also made statements aimed directly at Kicklighter saying “I won’t sweep police misconduct under the rug. I will address it and in looking at this particular case the evidence is there that Brad Kicklighter provided a cheat sheet of bullet points to the undercover officer from the Chop House investigation for her to use in preparing her report.”

A key piece of evidence used to arrest Yonkosky was a sting operation where investigators said Yonkosky drugged an undercover officer, sending her to the hospital.

Higgins says that sting operation did not happen as described by investigators.

Higgins says an undercover officer was flirting with Yonkosky at the Chop House restaurant and left her drink unguarded on multiple occasions.

The next day a hospital test turned up traces of oxycodone in her system, but that drug is different than the drug they later found in Yonkosky’s vehicle.

Higgins also said there is video evidence of that officer groping Yonkosky and that she was coached into writing a false report after the fact by a sheriff’s office investigator.

That investigator, going on to falsify other victim statements. “I’ve actually personally talked to [the victim] as early as this morning with regard to that and she verified that she never made these statements ever to anyone and so when Brad Kicklighter said that she said something, it just isn’t true,” said Higgins.

While pursuing charges against Yonkosky, investigators said that several women came forward with stories of being drugged by Yonkosky.

Higgins said he looked into the statements of those women and they do not match what investigators claim.

With the title “false narrative” on a presentation screen, Higgins laid out that over a dozen written statements collected during the investigation do not match the summaries that investigators made about them.

The Yonkosky case ties into the case against Lawson. Investigators claimed that Lawson raped a woman at Yonkosky’s home and that this was backed up by victim testimony.

“Obviously we are very pleased with the District Attorney’s decision in Mr. Yonkosky’s case. It was, without a doubt, the right decision. It’s unfortunate that it took this long for it to be made, but we’re glad that a thorough, transparent, and legitimate investigation was finally done and that it lead to the appropriate resolution. It is disturbing that Mr. Yonkosky was kept in jail for 3 months and under strict bond conditions for 6 months based on false information and what appears to be significant misconduct, and we hope that there are consequences to this deliberate disregard of justice and to Mr. Yonkosky’s liberty.”

John Yonkosky's attorney Adrienne Browning

Higgins said he reviewed the evidence and the victim did not make those statements.

Higgins says he’s talked with the Wayne County Sheriff who employs Brad Kicklighter and he believes Kicklighter still works there.

He says about 40 different cases will be affected now that his office will refuse to use Kicklighter in any case.

“On behalf of Deputy Kicklighter I would like to plainly state that the accusations that were lodged against him in this matter yesterday are behavior that he has not, is not, nor would he ever participate in at any time. Deputy Kicklighter is an Excellent and Honest Law Enforcement Officer whose main thoughts everyday are to do his best in keeping the Citizens of Wayne County and elsewhere safe from criminals who prey on law abiding Citizens. This is just another attack on our Law Enforcement Officer’s for just doing their jobs. I would respectfully just ask for everyone to wait until all the evidence comes out in this case to form an opinion as to what did or did not happen. I am very confident and have no doubt whatsoever that when all the facts are known in this matter Deputy Kicklighter will be totally vindicated and exonerated.”

Brad Kicklighter's attorney Keith Barber

Higgins also says he’s passing all of this information to the state’s prosecutorial office for further investigation.