Burke County Sheriff Alfonzo Williams is the named defendant in another federal lawsuit. This time, the suit alleges a man was arrested and held without bond for almost a year based on testimony of a prostitute who was high on heroin at the time of her interview.
The suit contends that the individuals with the Burke County Sheriff’s Office – namely Sheriff Alfonzo Williams, Investigator Allen Crispin, and Investigator William Loomer, took intentional and malicious actions with ‘reckless disregard for accuracy’ when they arrested Mitchell Lambert and that Sheriff Williams misrepresented how many people were accusing Lambert of a crime. Further, the suit alleges that the Sheriff’s Office’s own investigative file offered motive by individuals other than Lambert and that it was prosecuting attorneys who ultimately stopped the case from barreling down the tracks.
Background
Simon Powell went missing in early June 2016. BCSO investigated the case, but came up short in the aftermath. The True Citizen reported that Powell’s abandoned charred truck was found on June 2 by Georgia Power linemen and the GBI Crime Lab confirmed that no human remains were inside of the truck. The newspaper also reported that Randall Johnson and Crystal Simmons were questioned but never arrested. Notably, Simmons reportedly called 911 on June 2 “asking for assistance because she was naked and lost in the woods. She reported burning a truck in the woods in the proximity of Wilson Road, hoping the smoke signal would help get her rescued.” She later denied burning the truck, even after hearing the playback of the 911 call.
No other meaningful progress was made for more than six years. In June 2022, Sheriff Williams announced that the reward money for Powell’s case had increased to $30,000.
On July 12, 2022, Stacey Welch, identified in records as ‘a prostitute,’ told Investigators Crispin and Loomer that she had knowledge of the disappearance of Powell – specifically that she was involved, as was Lambert – who she referred to as her boyfriend- and they carried out the murder with the help of two Hispanic males. Investigators conducted searches of the locations revealed by Welch during her interview, but no evidence was located to corroborate her statements.
Nevertheless, Crispin’s report attached to the case file stated “Stacey Welch…and Mitchell Lambert…were complicit in the kidnapping, armed robbery, and murder of Simon Powell.” After informing Sheriff Williams of their intentions, Loomer then used the statements made by Welch, with no other evidence, to apply for three arrest warrants – armed robbery, kidnapping, and murder – in Burke County Magistrate Court without consideration for Lambert’s whereabouts at the time of Powell’s disappearance.
On July 21, 2022, Lambert was arrested in Forsyth County and was returned to the Burke County Detention Center. During a press conference on July 22, investigators told the media that no remains had been discovered and no evidence related to the disappearance or death of Powell was located at any of the locations described by Welch.
Burke County Sheriff Alfonzo Williams told the media, “Our investigators have paid attention to details and have worked really hard to get her to admit some responsibility.”
In August 2022, the Burke County Sheriff’s Office told the public that it had located human remains in a pond, but the findings were sent to the GBI Crime Lab which could not definitively say whether the contents were human remains.
Mitchell Lambert was held without bond for eleven months before a prosecutor told the court during a bond hearing that there was no sufficient evidence to proceed with prosecuting Mitchell and that the office did not plan to present charges to a grand jury.
Lawsuit
Lambert filed the lawsuit in Burke County Superior Court on July 19, 2024 and roughly a month later, it was transferred to federal court.
The lawsuit alleges specifically that:
- Crispin and Loomer “lacked probable cause or even arguable probable cause to arrest Mr. Lambert for any alleged crime…”
- The affidavits used to obtain the warrants for Lambert contained “deliberate falsehoods and/or reckless disregard for the truth and omitted material facts that would be critical to a determination of whether probable cause, in fact, existed. (Such as issues with Welch’s testimony or the numerous interviews conducted to obtain her conflicting statements)
- The same affidavits offered no evidence and no specifics about the alleged crimes:
- Mitchell Lambert did intentionally, willfully, and with malice aforethought, unlawfully kill and murder and cause the death of one Simon Powell, a human being, by kidnapping Mr. Simon Powell, forcing him into a truck and transporting him to another location. Mitchell Lambert then removed him from the truck and took part in the Armed Robbery and Murder of Mr. Powell before Mr. Powell was disposed of in a body of water. This was witnessed by co-defendant, Stacey Welch, who confessed to investigators on July 12th 2022.
- The basis of the arrest of Lambert stemmed from Welch’s interview, which was full of conflicting statements and unreliable stories. Welch’s attorneys later stated during a bond hearing that she was ‘high on heroin’ at the time of the questioning, which Lambert’s attorneys allege was known to investigators since they questioned her sanity at one point during the interview.
- Sheriff Williams had authority over Loomer and Crispin to stop the application for warrants due to the lacking investigation, but instead ‘approved of and acquiesced in their decision.’
- Sheriff Williams told Lamber that despite his [Lambert’s] contention that he was innocent, “there was nothing he could do to assist and falsely claimed that there were multiple people accusing Mr. Lambert.”
Lambert is seeking a jury trial, actual damages, expenses, and other economic losses, and a declaration of his rights being violated, among other things. The legal basis cites the U.S. Constitution under 42 USC 1983 and a host of Georgia laws.
“The statements that Ms. Welch gave during these interviews were ever-changing and conflicting, such that she was obviously not a credible witness and such that no reasonable law enforcement officer would believe her or her statements to be credible.” — J. Kyle Brooks, Attorney for Mitchell Lambert
Assistant District Attorney Corroborates Narrative of Poorly Constructed Case File
On July 16, 2023, Assistant District Attorney Rex Meyers said during a bond hearing that while the DA’s office had received ‘additional information’ from the Sheriff’s Office, “none of the information…strengthened the case against [Lambert].”
He went on to say that the file provided no evidence of a motive but that the file “did contain evidence developed by BCSO personnel that other persons might have motive to kill Powell. Moreover, the BCSO investigation had not developed any physical evidence corroborating Ms. Welch’s statements.”
After working on the case for six to eight months, Myers said the case was “not sufficient to go forward” and “we gain nothing from what [Ms. Welch] has given to us.”
Issues with Welch’s statements were far and wide, but Myers belabored that Welch’s story was confusing, conflicting, continuously changing, and that “any reasonable attorney would find that she has credibility issues with respect to her statement.”
Judge Questions Validity of Initial Warrants
Judge Daniel J. Craig following the June 16, 2023 bond hearing:
“What Mr. Myers, in all candor to the Court has told the Court, is that we are actually lacking even the information that could have led to the issuance of a warrant in this case. We’re sorely lacking….[I]f…we were to go back and revisit the wisdom of the warrant at the time it was issued for the purpose of gaining control of Mr. Lambert, that there—we would all have had questions about the validity of it.…But then the question becomes, is there a reason to continue to detain Mr. Lambert? Is there a legal reason, a constitutional reason to detain Mr. Lambert? The answer is no.”
Court documents reveal that he questioned whether it would even be constitutional to require Plaintiff to post bond, given the complete lack of evidence against him.
Release
Lambert was released on bond on June 16, 2023.
On February 9, 2024, Stacey Welch was still in the Burke County Jail, having been there since her arrest on July 13, 2022. A judge reduced her bond to $5,000 and set a curfew from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. daily.
There’s been no further action on the case.
