Macon code enforcement officer was terminated after criminal allegations, county confirms

Macon-Bibb County terminated the former Macon code enforcement officer who has been criminally charged over allegations that he illegally accessed the phones of people he pulled over and sent himself photos from their devices, the county confirmed Tuesday.

Macon previously confirmed that Christopher Willcox no longer worked for the county, but Chris Floore, Macon-Bibb County’s chief communications officer, confirmed he was terminated amid an active investigation into his conduct.

Willcox allegedly accessed at least one person’s phone and sent himself pictures through the devices. When the investigation first started, he was placed on administrative leave, according to Edna Adams, a communications manager for the county.

Willcox has faced two criminal cases related to these incidents, but one case was dismissed earlier this month. However, he still faces charges for his second case, which revolves around a traffic stop that occurred on Sept. 11.

Susan Ryan, spokesperson for the district attorney’s office, confirmed Tuesday that an investigation into that separate incident is still pending.

Deputies at the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release at the time that Willcox was arrested after he conducted a traffic stop on that date where he allegedly took a woman’s phone and sent pictures from her phone to his. He was on duty during the incident, deputies said.

Willcox was charged with violation of oath by a public officer, the sheriff’s office said.

Why one case was dismissed

The Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office was handling the investigation into an earlier incident in which someone pulled over by Willcox accused him of accessing items on her phone, but prosecutors said the alleged victim, a woman named Sarah Foster, provided conflicting statements to investigators regarding the incident.

Foster told investigators that she voluntarily gave Willcox her phone during the traffic stop so he could view insurance information, but he “took the phone to his vehicle for approximately 5-10 minutes, during which time he unlawfully accessed her private information,” according to court records.

But the district attorney’s office said Foster gave conflicting statements after the incident, and kept communicating with Willcox afterward, so they decided they should drop the charges due to the conflicting information.

Foster, who told The Telegraph that she worked at the district attorney’s office as an administrator in criminal cases during the incident, alleged in an interview that the version of events told by the district attorney’s office was not true. She said Howard wanted a full download of the contents of her phone for the investigation, which Foster objected to, and that caused issues.

“(District Attorney Anita Howard’s) theory in her head (is) that I gave conflicting statements,” Foster said. “That’s not what she was saying in her meeting with law enforcement. She demanded an entire phone download from me, and I don’t think she needed it for the case.”

District Attorney Anita Howard stressed the importance of witness credibility, how providing conflicting accounts when the evidence doesn’t support the accusation presents prosecution issues, and how her office’s “ethical and legal duty as prosecutors requires us to dismiss charges when the evidence does not support them, regardless of the nature of the allegations.”