MACON (WALB) - A federal magistrate judge Tuesday afternoon ordered Wilcox County Sheriff Stacy Bloodsworth to resign from office and not to run for re-election.
That's the only way he could get out of jail on $25,000 bond.
Bloodsworth's son Austin and former inmate Willie James Caruthers were also released on bond following a hearing at the Federal Courthouse in Macon.
The men pleaded not guilty to charges of beating three inmates,trying to cover it up and lying to federal investigators.
The former sheriff will be under house arrest and must wear an ankle monitor.
Former jailer Casey Owens is also charged but not appear in court today.
Bloodsworth served as Wilcox County Sheriff since 1996.
In 2008 Telfair County Sheriff Jimmie W. Williamson was charged on counts of bribery and embezzlement and later sentenced to federal prison.
The following year, Jeff Davis County Sheriff Jimmy Boatright pleaded guilty to federal charges of bank and wire fraud and was forced to resign.
Last year Turner County Sheriff Roy Wiley stepped down following a GBI investigation in which authorities say he removed marijuana used to train drug dogs to give to a friend's wife who was battling cancer.
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