A former Richmond County Sheriff’s deputy has been fired from his job with the Snellville Police Department after being compelled to take a polygraph test in connection with the slaying of transgender social media influencer Felycya Harris.
An internal investigation that was started over possible knowledge of the Harris homicide uncovered that Snellville Police Officer Alphonso Forrest failed to disclose on his application that he had been arrested as a juvenile for allegedly improperly touching his cousin and he also failed to disclose that he was once under a three-month long investigation in Richmond County over abuse allegations involving his then 6-year-old daughter.
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Investigator Randall Amos with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Forrest along with several others is an active person of interest in the Felycya Harris murder investigation.
In the case involving Forrest’s 6-year-old daughter the claims were deemed unfounded by RCSO investigators. Applicants to public safety positions have to disclose any previous investigations or accusations of which they are the subject.
Forrest was fired for conduct unbecoming an officer and for submitting a fraudulent application. However, the polygraph questions centered as much on his possible knowledge of Harris’ murder as it did on the abuse allegations from years prior. Many of the details of the polygraph report obtained through an open records request were redacted.
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The initial story published in The Augusta Press only mentioned that a former Richmond County deputy was a person of interest in Harris’ murder. A person of interest is not necessarily a suspect in a case, only someone the police feel may have relevant information.
Forrest’s name was not published in the original piece.
However, once it was published, Forrest, who refers to himself as a social media influencer, took to the internet and disclosed on Facebook that he was the person of interest in the case which ultimately flagged the attention of his employers in Snellville.
In a rambling Facebook post, Forrest said the following:
“It’s heartbreaking to listen to the things & read the things about me from my own city. They are using my transparency against me. I’m not sure what the motive is behind this, but it is tearing down my character & what I stand for. People are you pure evil (sic). People will dislike you based on a narrative they have spun themselves.”
In the polygraph examination, Forrest denied knowing or being acquainted with Harris. He also denied being a person of interest in the murder case, but conceded that he was asked if he knew Harris by Investigator Randall Amos, who he misidentified as a “RCSO 21-day mental health MD.”
Amos is not a medical doctor employed by the Sheriff’s Office. He is the lead investigator assigned to the Harris murder.
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According to the polygraph report provided from an open records request, Forrest denied having any association with Harris, which contradicted prior statements that Forrest has made on the record with The Augusta Press.
In a recorded phone interview, Forrest at first acknowledged that he knew Harris, but when pressed further about the murder, he claimed he only knew Harris from the internet and that they were friends on Facebook.
However, Forrest said he was aware of Harris’ exploits targeting straight men to engage in sexual acts in order to extort money from them. Curiously, he also recalled that he was not on duty as a sheriff’s deputy on the day of Harris’ murder.
Forrest also presented himself on the recorded phone call as a person with inside knowledge about the facts regarding the ongoing investigation, stating that he knew the police had no suspect in the case.
“From what I heard, they have no leads on it, man. They have no leads. They don’t know who it is or who it may be. They have nothing,” Forrest said.
By his own admission, shortly after Harris’ murder, Forrest checked himself into rehab for depression and having suicidal thoughts, a condition he said he suffered from since childhood.
Not long after getting out of rehab, Forrest resigned from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office and applied for work in Snellville, which is a small city east of Atlanta with roughly 20,000 residents.
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The results of Forrest’s polygraph examination have not been released by the Snellville Police Department. The reason Snellville did not release the results is likely due to protections under what is known as “Garrity Rights,” which provides that the government cannot force employees to implicate themselves in a crime as part of an employment review.
The body of Felycya Harris, born Antaun Benjamin Harris, was discovered on Oct. 3, 2020 lying on the ground at Meadowbrook Park. An autopsy revealed Harris had been shot in the head.
According to multiple sources, Harris was known to invite men to tryst with her and would capture the sexual acts on camera. The sources say that if the men caught on camera with Harris did not pay her, she would post the encounter on Snapchat.
MORE: Augusta District Attorney’s Office Sees Success Despite Challenges
According to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office an incident report was filed in June of 2020 by an unidentified man claiming Harris demanded $1,000 to take down photos she posted to Snapchat that appeared to show him having a sexual encounter with the transgender woman.
Harris was not a stranger to law enforcement. According to incident reports obtained via an open records request, she had 16 recorded interactions with the police from 2016 to just months before her 2020 murder. Harris was reported to authorities several times for harassment over the internet and stalking people at their jobs.
The same incident reports also showed that Harris’ had charges for simple battery, felony financial fraud and shoplifting.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter of The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com. Anna Porzio is a Correspondent for The Augusta Press. Reach her at anna@theaugustapress.com.
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