Annual Patriot Day
service to be Sept. 11
LOCAL, 3A
Lady Tigers get
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close win at home
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SPORTS, 1B
WEDNESDAY I SEPTEMBER 5, 2018 DaWSOflNeWS ^COITI DAWSONVILLE, GEORGIA $1.00
Officer charged over inmate romance
Sheriff s employee arrested after investigation into relationship with female prisoner
ByAllie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
A former Dawson County
Sheriff’s Office detention officer
who resigned last month after
allegations of inappropriate con
duct with a female inmate was
arrested by investigators on
Tuesday.
A warrant was issued for the
arrest of Luciano Pablo
Betancourt on Sept. 4 for the
felony offense of violation of
oath by a public officer, which
carries a potential sentence of
between one and five years
behind bars.
Sheriff Jeff Johnson said that a
recent drug investigation had led
to a former inmate alleging she
had been involved in a romantic
relationship with then-detention
officer Betancourt, 26, while she
was incarcerated.
As a result of the Aug.
10 allegations, the infor
mation was forwarded to
the Office of Professional
Standards for review and
subsequent initiation of
an internal affairs investi
gation, Johnson said.
Betancourt was placed
on administrative leave Aug. 13
pending the outcome of an inter-
Betancourt
nal investigation and
criminal investigation.
Betancourt resigned
Aug. 14.
“Sheriff’s office inves
tigators conducted the
criminal investigation,”
Johnson said. “It is
believed that Betancourt
did engage in a romantic
relationship as the suspect had
previously admitted.”
The woman who made the
allegations, April Finnegan, 31,
was most recently arrested July
30 on felony probation viola
tions. She was also arrested
April 6 of this year and found
guilty of possession of metham-
phetamine, according to court
records.
“As we have always done, we
See Officer 17A
Group creates
drug task force
Family Connection aims
to fight abuse epidemic
By Jessica Brown
jbrown@dawsonnews.com
Over the past year, Dawson County Family
Connection has been gathering members from different
agencies in the community to tackle the growing issue
that is substance abuse within Dawson County.
In January 2017, Family Connection Coordinator
Nancy Stites along with her team sat down to assess
issues in the community and noticed that many issues
such as child and spousal abuse stem from adult sub
stance abuse, and that it was time that a conversation
on substance abuse be opened to community members.
“We said the very first thing we need to do is
increase awareness in the community - that this is hap
pening,” Stites said. “We’re trying to just get people
talking because a lot of people in this group that we’re
talking about says ‘some people have no idea there’s a
problem at all in the community.’”
See Drug 18A
Jessica Brown Dawson County News
The Love Him Love Them orphan children's choir makes their grand entrance at Liberty Baptist Church
for their concert Aug. 29.
Haitian orphan choir returns
By Jessica Brown
jbrown@dawsonnews.com
It was a lovely reunion in
Dawsonville when Harmony Baptist
Church and Liberty Baptist Church
opened their arms and homes to their
favorite traveling children’s choir.
For the third consecutive year, the
Love Him Love Them orphan chil
dren’s choir traveled to Dawsonville
where they were reunited with famil
iar faces.
The choir began touring the south
eastern United States in 2016, but due
to the devastating Hurricane Matthew
setting its attention on their home
island of Haiti, the choir found them
selves stranded in the states.
Harmony Baptist Church of
Dawsonville opened their doors and
hosted the stranded ministry for two
weeks until they could return home
safely.
“The community was amazing,”
said Harmony Baptist member Tina
Brady as she recalled her experience
with the choir two years ago.
The Dawson community opened
their hearts to the Love Him Love
Them ministry by providing food,
shelter, clothing and entertainment for
the group.
“This is home for us,” Love Him
Love Them Treasurer and Secretary
Macarena Poole said of Dawsonville.
“Harmony Baptist Church is one of
our homes in Georgia.”
After a devastating earthquake in
2010 left many children orphaned, a
local music teacher and his wife,
William and Gertrude Paul, opened
their home to displaced children, cre
ating the LifeSaver Orphanage. They
taught the children music, and when
Love Him Love Them founder Linda
Gunter visited the Pauls and the chil
dren, she was moved by their singing
and knew she wanted to sponsor them
and bring them to the United States to
perform.
It was an uphill battle, but in 2016
the dream to bring the children’s
choir to the Unites States became a
reality.
“The kids love coming here,” said
‘choir mom’ Sarah Logan. “They’ve
come here for three years now and
they’re very excited to be back. We’re
thankful for everything that everyone
here does for us.”
See Choir 12A
Man charged
with molestation
By Alexander Popp
DCN Regional Staff
A Forsyth County man has been arrested by local
authorities for allegedly sexually assaulting six
juvenile victims in Forsyth, Dawson and Cherokee
counties in 2017.
Ralston Cecil Dew, 70, was
arrested on Friday, Aug. 24 by the
Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office
after being released on bond from
the Dawson County Jail.
According to an incident report
from the Cherokee County
Sheriff’s Office, Dew has been
accused of a number of cases of
child molestation for incidents that
allegedly took place at his home in Cumming, at a
residence in Cherokee County and at the Riverbend
Gun Club in Dawson County between July 25 and
Dec. 17 of 2017.
Dew
See Charged 110A
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9 0 9 9
Inside
Volume 3, Number 49
© 2018, Dawson County News
Dawsonville, Georgia
Church Events
3B
Classifieds
7B
Dear Abby
6B
Deaths
2A
Legals
8B
Opinion
9A
Sports
1B
Sheriffs
Office earns
certification
7A Cyber security
could cost
county $80K
a year
We're all
grown up.
m
NORTHSIDE HOSPITAL
FORSYTH WOMEN’S CENTER
Celebrating
10 years
of delivering precious gifts
