Indictment Issued In Habersham Raid That Injured Toddler

A former Habersham County deputy sheriff is charged for her role in the flash bang grenade incident that injured a toddler last year.

U.S. Attorneys say 29-year-old Nikki Autry of Clarkesville, a former Habersham County deputy sheriff and special agent of the Mountain Judicial Circuit Criminal Investigation and Suppression, or NCIS, Team has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of providing false information in a search warrant affidavit and providing the same false information to obtain an arrest warrant.

According to authorities, providing false evidence to a judge to obtain a warrant is a federal civil rights violation.

Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn says that on the night of May 27, 2014, Autry and other members of the NCIS team were attempting undercover narcotics buys from various subjects in Habersham County

Horn says a brand new NCIS informant and two of his associates, his wife and a roommate, went to a Cornelia home and the informant’s roommate, who was not officially working with NCIS, approached the residence and allegedly purchased a small quantity of methamphetamine from an individual unknown to him who was standing outside the residence.

According to prosecutors, there was no police surveillance to verify the purchase.

Horn says shortly afterwards, Autry presented an affidavit to a Habersham County magistrate judge falsely swearing that the NCIS informant made the purchase and that the NCIS informant was “a true and reliable informant who has provided information in the past that has led to criminal charges on individuals selling narcotics in Habersham County.”

The federal indictment alleges that Autry knew the NCIS informant had not purchased any methamphetamine from anyone at the residence and the NCIS informant had not proven himself to be reliable in the past. Additionally, the indictment alleges that Autry had not confirmed that there was heavy traffic in and out of the residence.

Horn says based on this false information, the magistrate judge issued a “no-knock” search warrant for the residence and an arrest warrant for an individual identified as W. T., who allegedly sold the methamphetamine.

The warrant obtained by Autry was executed approximately two hours later, during the early morning hours of May 28, 2014.

It was during the execution of that warrant when a Habersham County deputy sheriff tossed a flash bang grenade into a side door of the residence, landing in a room where an 18-month-old toddler was sleeping.

The grenade landed inside the toddler’s playpen and critically injured him.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Autry will be arraigned by a U.S. Magistrate Judge later this week.