A settlement agreement of $20,000 has been reached in a suit filed by a local bonding company against Madison County Sheriff Kip Thomas.
James H. Owens of Double “O” Bonding Co. filed suit in February 2012 in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, alleging that Thomas violated his First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment Rights.
Owens received a letter from Thomas on Jan. 26 of last year informing him that he was no longer approved as a bonding agency for the Madison County Jail.
“This letter is to inform you that as of this date Double ‘O’ Bonding is no longer on the bonding list for the Madison County Sheriff’s Office,” Thomas wrote to Owens. “You are on my list of bonding companies and are supporting a candidate running for my office. This behavior is not acceptable and will not be tolerated by me or any other sheriff for that fact. Good luck with your business.”
A judge ruled last spring that Double “O” Bonding had to be reinstated as a bonding agency for the sheriff’s office.
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