Sheriff Richard Roundtree was challenged on his weight, the decaying jail, and whether he is too tired to mount a proper campaign during an intense interview Saturday with a local barber.
Just three days before the primary election, the Richmond County sheriff took the “hot seat” with local businessman John Milton. The barber hosts a regular show called “Barber Shop Talk Live,” which airs on social media from Jay’s Place Barber and Beauty Shop on Olive Road. (Watch the full 93-minute interview here.)
No question was off-limits, and Milton and his audience lobbed some hard ones for the veteran lawman who goes by “Tree.”
If deputies must pass a physical assessment test, shouldn’t the sheriff look the part, too? What about the five lawsuits the sheriff is facing by inmates and former deputies? Why hasn’t he used funds provided by the city commission to fix the jail? Is he too tired or too arrogant to mount a major campaign against his challengers? And what happened to the open-door policy that he pledged 12 years ago?
There was also a bizarre question about whether Sheriff Roundtree had accepted money in a white envelope to let the jail fall apart. After a quick denial, the sheriff often returned to this conspiracy theory for laughs.
“I don’t know what it’s for,” he said of the white envelope. “Now, if the devil is allowing that, I don’t know what it’s for. But some people may know, but Tree don’t know about that.”
On Tuesday, Sheriff Roundtree faces a Democratic primary against Bo Johnson, a former RCSO deputy and federal air marshal, and Eugene “Gino Rock” Brantley, a sergeant with the Richmond County Marshal’s Office. The winner could face independent candidate Richard Dixon in November if Dixon gets the required signatures.
Roundtree makes his case: The sheriff boasted about diversifying the sheriff’s office, taking it from 13 percent minority to 34 percent, with a command staff that looks more like the community it serves. He said crime was down in every category and mentioned he was working on more technology and filling personnel shortages by hiring two full-time recruiters and an HR specialist to expedite the background checks.
The sheriff expressed frustration at the lack of community support in fighting gun violence.
“There is not a homeless gang problem in Augusta. So they are bringing these guns into somebody’s house. Every night,” he said. “Just the other day, when we had that 13-year-old accused of murder. He was on the run for two days. Now, tell me, John, how can a 13-year-old have the resources to be on the run for two days? … That’s a community issue. That’s a community problem.
“I am not afraid to say it. It’s affecting the African-American community. And I said it before: Our problem is that we got little Black boys killing little Black boys. And certain parts of Augusta or certain parts of this area are really not concerned about it because it really doesn’t affect them. So they are not going to throw any resources to it.”
Oversized officers & the sheriff’s weight: A local bishop asked the sheriff about oversized and overweight police officers.
“Some can’t hardly get into the cars, they are so large,” the bishop said. “And how are they going to run down those young boys that you are talking about if they really take off and go between the alleys, because they are really on the heavy side.”
Sheriff Roundtree said he has the only area agency that has a physical fitness program requiring officers to take an annual physical fitness assessment. It requires them to run a mile, do a certain number of sit-ups, push-ups, and bench a certain amount.
“Hold up, Tree. I got to jump in,” Milton said. “This is Jay’s Place Barbershop. I am not allowed to cut anybody’s hair if my haircut don’t look right. .. Why would I cut your hair if my haircut don’t look right? I got to look the part, right?”
He asked the sheriff if he should look the part if he was requiring officers to be physically fit, sparking a humorous back-and-forth conversation.
“As a sheriff, I look the part,” Roundtree replied. “Have you seen me in a suit? Have you seen me in a suit? … I am an executive. … But I ain’t jumping out of the car running after anybody. Those days are over. … I am the athletic director. I ain’t on the field. OK? I am just saying. I am up in the box. I am up in the box with the refreshments and the snacks. Let’s be honest. I am an executive.”
The sheriff said everyone can stand to be in better shape, but he defended his weight since he isn’t “out there doing the heavy lifting.”
Lawsuits against the sheriff: The same church bishop asked Sheriff Roundtree about the five pending lawsuits against him. He was referencing two discrimination lawsuits by minority deputies that worked for him and this month’s civil rights lawsuits by inmates who claim they were tortured during a 2022 flooding incident that just came to the sheriff’s attention this year.
Sheriff Roundtree said he gets sued all the time for car accidents, routine calls, and other matters.
“I have been sued so many times,” he said. “But that is in government. People sue government. And two of the lawsuits that you are talking about come from two people that I terminated.”
The Jail crisis & broken locks: Milton asked the sheriff about the jail crisis with doors not locking, inmates not having adequate places to sleep, and bad food.
“The prisoners are not safe, the security guards are not safe. So what is the problem with that?” the host asked. “Also, there is a huge budget that the sheriff’s office got. There should be enough money in that budget to take care of those locks being fixed, take care of the food, take care of those sleeping arrangements.”
Sheriff Roundtree said his agency had fixed the locks, but explained that inmates nationwide have learned how to jam the electric locks.
“We went to the commission and asked for some money to fix the locks, and we fixed it, so we are a totally secure facility,” he said.
But he surprised the host by putting the responsibility of the locks and other facility problems on Richmond County’s Central Services department.
“Understand this: I am a cop. I ain’t no plumber,” Roundtree said. “Everybody doesn’t realize that the sheriff’s office, even though we run the jail, Central Services handles the maintenance for all government buildings. That is a whole county department.
“So when the roof fails, or the plumbing leaks, or the light fixtures go, that is Central Services. That is not the Sheriff’s Office. I am not a contractor. That is Central Service. And people don’t realize that.”
The sheriff said his agency does not have money in the budget to fix anything at the jail.
“So we are just finding that out,” Milton replied.
As for overcrowding, the sheriff explained that he made the Augusta Commission aware of the need for a new pod eight years ago and again several years later. He said nothing was ever added to the SPLOST tax referendum, which uses sales tax money to fund projects. Instead of a new jail pod, commissioners added a water park, the sheriff said.
“Now you are going to get a water park,” the sheriff said.
Is Sheriff Roundtree too tired? Milton told the sheriff that many people want to know if he is too tired for another term. He said people were seeing billboards and signs all over town from his opponents as they hit the ground hard.
“People are saying, maybe Tree is tired and doesn’t want to do it anymore,” Milton said. “And if you are tired, we just want to know.”
The sheriff said he was running a different kind of campaign since he is the incumbent.
“The competitors that are out there, nobody knows who they are,” Roundtree said. “They’ve got to be out there. But I’ve been doing this for 31 years. People have seen my work. They have seen our work. But they’ve got to, because nobody has ever heard of them.”
“Are you telling me you are confident that you are going to win?” Milton asked.
“Absolutely, I am confident,” the sheriff said.
“Or are you just arrogant, so you don’t need to put out the signs?”
Roundtree said he believed in yard signs, but not road signs. He said signs don’t vote.
“Twelve years ago, my opponent had $250,000 and every sign in the world. We had $45,000, and the few signs we had, we would get up at 3 o’clock in the morning to move them to make it like we had some more,” he said. “So signs don’t vote. And I’ve seen that 12 years ago. And that is why I tell people: That is not an indication of support. That is somebody putting money out there who is trying to put their name out there. We are trying to put a product out there. We are trying to put our work out there. And I think we have done that over the last 12 years.”
The sheriff said his opponents want to run “the largest full-service sheriff’s office in the state of Georgia.”
“And they never supervised five people,” the sheriff said.
In fact, the sheriff said he would not endorse anyone if he lost the race. Pressed on whether he would help with the transition if he were defeated in the election, Roundtree said he would.
“Yeah. If the Lord says it’s my time to step aside,” he said. “I am not going to let ego and personal issues affect the safety of this community. … (But) I don’t foresee that happening.”
