Richmond County, Ga. sheriff's investigator misused Flock database for personal reasons, fired, charged
On August 31, 2026, the Richmond County (Augusta, Georgia) Sheriff's Office arrested and fired Investigator Sean Morrow after a criminal investigation found he had misused the agency's Flock license-plate-reader system to search plates for reasons unrelated to any official law-enforcement purpose. He was charged with misuse of license plate readers and violation of oath of office and booked into the Charles B. Webster Detention Center. The arrest is the sixth in an ongoing RCSO audit of Flock misuse since June 2026.
Part of: Police Using License-Plate Camera Networks to Stalk
Actors
- Sean Morrow (Investigator, Richmond County Sheriff's Office)
On August 31, 2026, the Richmond County (Augusta, Georgia) Sheriff's Office announced it had concluded a criminal investigation and arrested Investigator Sean Morrow for unauthorized personal use of the agency's Flock license-plate-reader system. Investigators determined that Morrow knowingly accessed the Flock Camera System to search license plate numbers for reasons unrelated to any official law-enforcement purpose. He was charged with misuse of license plate readers and violation of oath of office, booked into the Charles B. Webster Detention Center, and fired.
Deputy Jose Ferrer was arrested and charged the same day for separately misusing the same system; investigators did not describe the two officers' searches as a joint or coordinated act, so Ferrer's case is recorded as its own entry in this archive. The arrests bring the number of Richmond County Sheriff's Office employees caught in the expanding Flock investigation to six since June 2026, following the June 25 firing and arrest of former Deputy Jaquarius Yarbrough and the July 20 firing and arrest of Lt. John McKenzie, Investigator Curtis Hoskins, and Deputy Joshua Johnson.
In a statement, the Sheriff's Office said the investigation determined both deputies' actions violated multiple agency policies, including unauthorized access and misuse of law-enforcement databases and information systems, conduct unbecoming a member of the Sheriff's Office, and the ethical obligations of the Oath of Office. Sheriff Eugene Brantley said the office "remains committed to ensuring the integrity and accountability of every member of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office," and that employees found to have violated the law or agency policy would be held accountable. The investigation remains open.
Why we recorded this
Access to a government license-plate surveillance network is authorized for law-enforcement purposes, not personal ones. Richmond County Sheriff's Office Investigator Sean Morrow used the agency's Flock camera system to search license plates for reasons unrelated to any official duty — the sixth such case the same ongoing audit has uncovered since June 2026. This archive records the event because it shows a surveillance tool's built-in safeguard, a log reviewed only after the fact, did nothing to stop the misuse before it happened, and that the pattern has now reached six officers at a single agency within three months.
Sources
- Two RCSO deputies arrested for Flock Camera misuse — WJBF primary accessed September 3, 2026
- 2 more local deputies arrested over use license plate readers — WRDW/WAGT primary accessed September 3, 2026
- Two more RCSO deputies arrested over alleged Flock camera abuse — The Augusta Press secondary accessed September 3, 2026
See also
- Mauldin, S.C. officer fired for using Flock cameras 166 times to track ex-partner, falsified search logs
- Haines City, Fla. officer arrested after 717 Flock camera searches of estranged wife's car
- Sarasota, Fla. officer misused Flock and DAVID databases 335 times to track ex-partner's vehicle; fired, arrested
- Lufkin, Texas officer misused Flock license-plate database to track 11 people over a year, indicted on 100 felony counts
- Former Covington, Ga. officer arrested for Flock camera misuse, oath-of-office violation
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