FBI agents raid Augusta commissioner's home
FBI agents raided the home of Augusta Commissioner Sammie Sias on Thursday morning, spending approximately five hours removing boxes of materials and computers from his Sandridge subdivision house.
The city government is the subject of an active FBI criminal investigation of unknown scope. The raid follows recent accusations by Sias' long-time lover, next-door neighbor Willa Hilton, who sent the city commission a long list of allegations against Sias on July 22. The allegations included theft of government funds intended for Jamestown Community Center, child abuse, sexual harassment and using alcohol and pornography at Jamestown.
The commission referred Hilton's criminal allegations to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which opened a criminal investigation Friday, and sent the child-abuse claims to the Division of Family and Children Services.
FBI spokesman Kevin Rowson said agents were conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity Thursday at Sias' house, but were not there to make any arrests. The agency reportedly searched Jamestown on Wednesday.
The city confirmed Tuesday that a federal grand jury had met and authorized subpoenas to the local government, but would not release them, citing a federal criminal statute. The prior meeting of a grand jury indicates the FBI probe predated Hilton's allegations.
The agents went in Sias' house, a shed and cement block garage behind the home and in his white work van, removing computers and boxes of other unknown items.
Sias remained in the house during the raid and downplayed it after agents left, saying the federal agents were just "doing their job."
"Commissioner Sias is not running away from anything," he said. "This is a process that has to be completed, and I commend them for their professionalism."
One of the FBI agents conducting the search, agent Brian Ozden spoke to media briefly as agents left the scene around 10:45 a.m. He said agents were conducting "court-authorized law enforcement activity" but declined to comment further.
Around eight FBI vehicles lined Crest Drive around Sias' house, but there was no sign of activity at Hilton's home next door. The pair have been neighbors since 1987, when both bought homes in Sandridge.
The raid drew curious onlookers, including former District 4 Commissioner Alvin Mason, who stopped briefly and spoke with media, as well as former District 4 Commissioner Bernard Harper.
Johnny Elam, who has lived in Sandridge for 25 years, pulled up in his gator utility vehicle. While he doesn't know Sias personally, Elam said Sias isn't well-liked by neighbors. Elam said he receives a letter every year from Sias about joining the Sandridge Community Association, which runs the center, but has never joined. Founded by Sias, Sandridge has had a contract with the city to run Jamestown since the late 1990s that enabled it to receive sales tax funds intended for renovations.
"I never attended a meeting; I won't be going," Elam said. "I never went to Jamestown except to vote."
Former Commissioner Moses Todd, who has called for the city to conduct an independent forensic audit of Jamestown's finances and to end Sandridge's agreement to run the center, said Sias' response to the raid was an effort to alter public perception.
"That's just spin to set the narrative that there's nothing to see here," Todd said.
Since he was first elected to the commission in 2015, Sias has held "community breakfasts" at the center, typically on the second Saturday of the month. When it referred Sias to the GBI, the commission also banned him from the center and the city has not sent its usual notice about the breakfast this week.