GBI investigator involved with Tara Grinstead case to run for Bibb County sheriff
One of the most-experienced Georgia Bureau of Investigation investigators has announced his plans to run for Bibb County sheriff when he retires from the GBI after 36 years of service.
J.T. Ricketson, a Republican, told The Telegraph he plans to run against current Sheriff David Davis, a Democrat, in this year’s election. Ricketson said that he has concerns about the crime in Bibb County.
“I have been a public servant for 36 years, (and) for those years I have always run towards problems. I see serious problems here. I think I have better solutions, some new solutions,” Ricketson said. “It is the same problems that have been around for decades. I just feel compelled instead of just sitting around talking about it, I want to go and do something about it.”
Ricketson currently runs the GBI’s Perry office. His office investigates crimes in Ben Hill, Bibb, Crawford, Dooly, Houston, Irwin, Peach, Turner, Twiggs and Wilcox counties.
His work has taken him all over the state and has been involved in some high-profile cases such as Tara Grindstead’s murder in Ocilla, Georgia, the subject of the popular podcast “Up and Vanished.”
Ricketson said he believes that his time spent with the GBI has prepared him for this bid at being the next sheriff in Bibb County.
“I’d like to take my years of training, education, my experience and put it to work directly for Bibb County citizens,” he said. “I have worked in rural areas and I have worked in urban areas. I have worked with multiple departments big and small.”
Davis was elected in 2012 and cruised to re-election in 2016. The party primaries will take place May 19 and the representatives from each party will then square off on Nov. 3.
There currently are no other candidates in the race from either party.
Ricketson, who has lived in Macon since the late 1980s, believes he has an encyclopedia of knowledge that he has gathered over the years that could be used to make Bibb County a safer place to live.
He wants to bring a renewed focus to some of the unsolved murder case that are still open in Bibb County as well as establish a multi-jurisdictional drug task force, something he has long tried to start in Middle Georgia.
“I just feel like new leadership will bring about a safer community,” Ricketson said. “I don’t care who gets the credit for locking the bad guy up or solving the case. I don’t care about that. My concern is locking the bad guy up and making our streets safer.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2020 at 12:05 PM.