Former Harris County deputy charged nearly three months after reported sexual assault

Nearly three months after a former Harris County sheriff’s deputy was accused of sexual assault, Thomas Carl Pierson surrendered to Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents Friday at the county jail in Hamilton, the GBI said in a statement.

Pierson, 38, faces one count each of sexual assault, sexual battery, aggravated sodomy and one count of false imprisonment. He is also charged with four counts for violation of oath of a public officer.

Sheriff Mike Jolley, who was in Memphis, Tenn., Friday afternoon as part of the Scott Ressmeyer and The Riders’ trip to Sioux City, Iowa, said Pierson is held without bond in a Coweta County Jail because he was in law enforcement in Harris and Muscogee counties.

“He was in law enforcement in my county and also a correctional officer in Muscogee County,” the sheriff said. “He came to me from Muscogee County.”

Jolley said a bond hearing for Pierson will be held Wednesday in Hamilton.

All of the charges stem from an incident that occurred on Feb. 14 when a woman accused Pierson of sexual misconduct during a traffic stop on Ga. Highway 85. The sheriff’s office learned of the allegation on the day of the incident.

The woman was reportedly speeding in a 55 mph zone near Victoria Airpark Drive, just north of Waverly Hall. Instead of giving the woman a ticket, the deputy wrote her a warning during the 1 p.m. traffic stop.

After the ticket was issued, the woman left the area. Five miles from that location, the deputy stopped the woman again near Twin Lakes Road. She had not commited another traffic violation. The in-car camera equipment was initially on, but it was switched off shortly after the second traffic stop.

After the incident, the deputy told sheriff’s officials that they had consensual oral sex. The woman said it wasn’t consensual.

A day after the incident, Jolley contacted the GBI to investigate. Before any charges were filed, Pierson was terminated from the job that he had held for about 16 months. At the time, Jolley declined to release the name of the deputy.

An audit of Pierson’s traffic stops involving women was conducted as part of the investigation. Women who were stopped by the deputy were requested to report if anything unusual had occurred during their traffic stop.

Officials said more women came forward with claims of misconduct by Pierson and they were interviewed by GBI agents.

No changes have been made with traffic stop procedures since the assault allegation, Jolley said.

“Our procedures were great,” he said. “In fact, there was some of the evidence the GBI had came from our video camera and procedures we had in place.”

The investigation will be turned over to the district attorney’s office once the probe is completed.

This story was originally published May 6, 2016 at 3:09 PM with the headline "Former Harris County deputy charged nearly three months after reported sexual assault."