Deputy arrested, fired for hindering felony arrest
- 12/24/09
- Categorized in: DeKalb News
A DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office deputy was arrested Dec. 16 and charged with hindering a felony arrest when investigators discovered she was harboring a fugitive at her home.
Landria Odom, 41, a nine-year veteran with the sheriff’s office, was fired from her job on Dec, 17, said sheriff’s office spokeswoman Mikki Jones. Odom was arrested after deputies found 28-year-old fugitive Kirkland Smith at Odom’s home at 3421 Ivys Walk in Atlanta (DeKalb County). She was released from DeKalb County Jail Dec. 18 on $5,000 bond. Smith was wanted for an armed robbery on Oct. 5 at an apartment complex on North Hairston Road in Stone Mountain, Jones said..
Odom’s name and address had come up during the investigation of Smith. Fugitive Squad deputies found Odom’s car outside her home on Dec. 16. Deputies called Odom inside the home and it was revealed in the conversation that Smith also was in the house. While one deputy was on the phone with Odom, another knocked on the front door of the home but there was no response.
Smith eventually ran out the front door and was tackled in the parking lot by deputies. He was arrested on armed robbery charges and is in the DeKalb County Jail.
“It is extremely disappointing and reprehensible when an officer sworn to serve and protect the public takes a turn in the opposite direction,” Sheriff Thomas Brown said. “It is for the good of all–for the good of society–that these persons are weeded out of law enforcement positions. Unfortunately, they become a part of the system that lands them behind bars, which is how the system works.”
Odom had been reprimanded and suspended from her duties more than a year ago for having a relationship with a convicted felon, Jones said.
Odom’s arrest and firing was the second this month involving a sheriff’s office employee. Detention officer Keith Gabbidon was arrested on Dec. 4 on three counts each of sexual assault against an inmate, violation of oath and exposure. Gabbidon had been a detention officer at the DeKalb County Jail for 1-1/2 years.
when you are black you have to commit bloody murder to get fired....