Charges filed earlier this year against former Banks County fire chief Gary Pollard have been dismissed.
Pollard was charged with sexual contact with an inmate who said he raped her. In February, the Grand Jury dismissed the rape charge but sent through one charge against Pollard for sexual contact with an inmate.
That charge was dismissed last week in Banks County Superior Court proceedings before Judge Joe Booth.
District attorney Brad Smith said the judge granted a demure or dismissal of the charges for two reasons.
“There was not enough evidence to show Mr. Pollard had a supervisory or disciplinary authority over the victim in the case which is something that is required under that statute,” Smith said. “He was not an employee of the Department of Corrections and the Department of Corrections maintained supervisory and disciplinary authority over her. The judge found there was no evidence of that specific issue which is necessary for that specific crime.”
Smith said the other reason the charge was dismissed is because one of the witnesses in the civil lawsuit was on the Grand Jury.
Dana Maloch, an inmate at Lee Arrendale Correctional Institute in Alto, filed a federal lawsuit against Pollard earlier in connection with the allegations. Maloch said she was on a work duty at the Banks County Fire Department when the alleged incident occurred. In the lawsuit, the woman claims that Pollard kissed and touched her inappropriately several times and then “raped” her in July 2008.
Maloch is seeking compensatory and punitive monetary damages but a specific amount is not listed in the lawsuit. She is also asking for a jury trial.
