Macon officers resign after theft charges, had been disciplined for minor infractions

Published: February 15, 2013 

Jonathan Wesley Graves

Remondrell Martin was in the process of moving out of her home on Macon’s Pebble Street in November 2011 when she noticed her .380-caliber Cobra handgun was missing.

The 34-year-old called Macon police Nov. 3, 2011, and filed a report.

About seven months later, police officer Jonathan Graves allegedly found the small, silver gun while conducting an investigative search of a home on Macon’s Courtland Avenue, according to an arrest warrant.

Graves, 26, and officer Adolphus Jones, 27, resigned Thursday after being charged with fiduciary theft stemming from gun theft.

Before their arrests, both officers had been disciplined by police for minor infractions.

Graves was issued two written reprimands in November 2012 after he failed to show up for a Municipal Court hearing on July 30 and failed to report to a magistrate on July 31, records show.

No discipline was imposed last month after a complaint was filed alleging Graves was off duty and drinking at a local bar when he handcuffed himself. He didn’t have a key and another officer had to go to the bar to free Graves, according to the complaint.

The complaint was “not sustained,” according to Graves’ employee disciplinary history report.

Jones received verbal counseling twice in March 2012 stemming from a traffic accident and his failing to report to Municipal Court, records show.

Graves, of Lizella, is charged with two counts of fiduciary theft. Jones, of Macon, is charged with one count of fiduciary theft. Both are charged with violating their oaths of office.

Attempts to reach Graves and Jones were unsuccessful Friday. They were released on bond Thursday night.

When Graves found Martin’s silver gun on Courtland Avenue on June 16, 2012, he allegedly later gave it to a relative as a gift, according to an arrest warrant.

Attempts to reach Martin for comment were unsuccessful.

In another incident, Graves is accused of taking a .25-caliber gun after two suspects ran from him on Holts Lane on Nov. 6, 2011.

He later gave the gun to a relative as a gift, according to a separate arrest warrant.

Then, Graves and Jones allegedly took a 9 mm pistol from a Mumford Road apartment Aug. 21, 2012, and fired it on a dirt road near Mumford Road. When the gun was empty, they threw it into a large metal trash bin near Montpelier Avenue, according to a warrant.

Taking the guns was a breach of the officers’ “fiduciary responsibility to protect” personal property or the evidence of a crime, according to the warrants.

The three incidents occurred within or near the police department’s Precinct 3 boundaries. Police have not released information about Graves’ and Jones’ duty assignments at the time of the incidents.

Graves and Jones were hired in 2010, according to a police roster.

The arrests come three weeks after two Precinct 3 officers -- Troy Guidry, 41, and Jon Wantz, 32, -- were charged with theft, criminal trespass, burglary, conspiracy to commit a crime and violation of oath of office.

Guidry was later charged with two additional charges of theft, two counts of using articles with an altered identification mark and one count of fiduciary theft, according to warrants and jail records.

Guidry and Wantz allegedly stole a plumbing company’s tractor and burglarized a doctor’s office. Guidry also is accused of stealing a lawn mower and utility trailer from the Bibb County school system’s maintenance yard.

Both Guidry and Wantz resigned in lieu of termination.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report.

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