After months of back-and-forth regarding unpaid security services at Fulton County Jail, the issues between Fulton County Sheriff's Office and Strategic Security Corp. (SSC) have taken a litigious turn. The security company is taking legal action against the sheriff and Fulton County after employees walked off the job in August due to non-payment. SSC's lawsuit contends that Sheriff Patrick "Pat" Labat's office breached a contract by failing to pay for services, with claims now escalating to include potential criminal charges against Labat.
In pursuit of remuneration, 11Alive reports SSC has filed a mechanic's lien against the county, and is seeking charges of fraud, grand larceny, and theft of service against Labat. Despite acknowledgments of the debt by Labat, who blamed historic underfunding for the sheriff's office, SSC claims no substantial effort has been made to settle the outstanding balance, which they put in excess of $1 million.
The financial disagreement stems from what SSC refers to as a breach of contract for unpaid services, leading to the termination of its contract and the subsequent walkout of 87 security officers in late August. In a statement obtained by FOX 5 Atlanta, SSC's president and CEO Joseph Sordi, described the non-payment as unprecedented in his 22 years of service. The sheriff, on the other hand, emphasized a dire need for funds. "We are still not adequately funded for an agency of this size with the mandates required," Labat said.
Amid the dispute, Labat has managed his way through the bureaucratic maze to pay the owed $1.4 million, utilizing the agency's end-of-year close-out process. This payment came after county commissioners resisted Labat's call for a new $1.7 billion jail, opting instead for a more modest $300 million renovation project. Labat justified his position by stating that the current funding levels leave the jail and his agency wanting, "This is a budgetary issue that we have continually fought for," according to FOX 5 Atlanta. Yet, County Commission Chair Robb Pitts dismissed these claims as "pure nonsense," insisting that the sheriff had adequate funds to manage the jail's operations.
Despite the sheriff's efforts to employ half of the SSC workers through a different budget, Sordi maintains that a promise of payment is no payment at all, expressing disappointment in the lack of concrete steps for resolution, "Regrettably, six months have passed since Fulton County and Sheriff Labat acknowledged liability for this significant debt, yet there has been no timeline provided or good faith effort to settle the outstanding balance," Sordi told 11Alive.
