A former Alabama sheriff’s deputy who went on a homophobic Facebook tirade after a gay teenager took his own life just landed a new gig with a different Alabama law enforcement agency.
Jeff Graves was fired from his position a Madison County sheriff’s deputy in May after he went on Facebook to mock the death of 15-year-old Nigel Shelby, a Huntsville, Alabama teenager who died by suicide the previous month after he was bullied relentlessly for being gay.
Responding to another Facebook user’s post about Shelby, Graves called the entire LGBTQ movement “fake,” said that he was “seriously offended” by gay people, and declared that “society cannot and should not accept this behavior.”
Immediately afterwards, he was put on administrative leave from his job and an internal investigation was launched that soon “uncovered multiple violations of both county and sheriff’s office policies.” As a result, he was asked to resign from his position as Madison County sheriff’s deputy.
Now, less than two months later, Graves is back on the job! Only he’s working for a different police department.
On Monday, he began his first shift working as Owens Cross Roads newest police recruit. And they couldn’t be prouder to have him!
“He’s an officer here,” Owens Cross Roads Police Chief Jason Dobbins confirmed.”We feel he will be a good addition to the department.”
Speaking to local news station WHNT, Dobbins went on to say he believes Graves has learned his lesson and is “remorseful” for his behavior. He also said he feels confident that Graves will be able to serve all the residents of Owens Cross Roads, including members of the LGBTQ community, because, he notes, “justice is blind.”
“Everybody deserves a second chance,” Dobbins said.
Yeah, try saying that to the family of the 15-year-old child who was driven to suicide by homophobic bullies like Officer Graves.
