Richmond County violent crimes investigator goes under internal investigation

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By Navideh Forghani nforghani@nbcaugusta.com

Story Published: Aug 12, 2008 at 10:36 PM EDT

Story Updated: Aug 12, 2008 at 10:52 PM EDT

The Richmond County Sheriff's Office says one of its lead violent crime investigators will go before an internal review board in September.

Richmond County Sheriff Ronnie Strength tells NBC Augusta Sergeant Richard Roundtree is being investigated for misplacing case files.

Sheriff Ronnie Strength tells NBC Augusta that Roundtree misplaced several violent crime case files. He's being investigated for possibly violating policy.

Sources say case files were found in an apartment Roundtree formerly lived in. The Sheriff says it's typical for investigators to take case files home. He also says the cases in question are all cold cases, that date back to the mid 1990s and none of them were compromised.

Roundtree says he's deferring all comments to the Sheriff's Office.
He's in Virginia right now at the FBI Academy. He is training to improve his skills at the Sheriff's Office. The classes are paid for by the federal government.

When he gets back in September, he'll go before a review board. The board will take their recommendations to the Sheriff and he'll decide what will happen with Roundtree.

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Saturday, Nov 8 at 3:27 PM Donna Williams wrote ...

Roundtree was on mysons case HE WAS MURDERED IN 97 Isee why nothing was done I think they need to clean house

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Wednesday, Sep 17 at 1:30 PM Terry wrote ...

I heard 5 other investigators have been recommended for the same review Roundtree got. Anybody know more to that story? Who, what, when, and why? No matter what he has done or not done, rest assured, due to the nature of the job, we are not going to hear the whole story and that may be as it should be. Unfortunately, the trust issue has been shaken when I hear he has had undocumented interviews with a female inmate 7 times.

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Monday, Sep 15 at 8:17 PM You are an idiot wrote ...

Roundtree did not get in trouble for taking home work. He took files from work and lied about having them. Other investigators got in trouble for losing the files and roundtree had them the whole time, but said he never saw the files. He was caught in numerous lies. He does not deserve to continue working as a cop.

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Sunday, Aug 24 at 10:19 PM LEFT BEHIND wrote ...

Obvious none of the support for Roundtree have to live with 'not knowing'. Yes it does take time..to solve crimes; but the files are important...should not be left anywhere...and if you are not smart enough to remember them...keep your hands off, you sure cannot solve them!!!..And...Hotlanta...unimportant? Do you know what a 'coldcase' is? I do, I live with thoughts of one...everyday!!!

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Tuesday, Aug 19 at 12:14 PM Anonymous wrote ...

Those cases cannot be researced or solved during a work day. THey have to take it home. How else are they going to bring people to justice. If you think that working a murder is something that you do not have to take home and work on a little more in silence you are kidding yourself.

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Tuesday, Aug 19 at 10:50 AM Betty Walton wrote ...

This is rediculous! Why are you leaving him in the FBI Academy? Are you improving his skills in hiding information? Did they not say on the news last night that a murderer was given a life sentence instead of the death penalty because the original documents could not be found. Now they show up in Roundtree's stuff. This does not sound unimportant to me!!! Will anything ever change?

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Monday, Aug 18 at 7:29 PM LILY wrote ...

I CARE ABOUT THIS STORY, WHY?

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Sunday, Aug 17 at 12:07 AM Brother in Blue wrote ...

All dedicated Law Enforcement officers take their work home with them.Cold case files can be used to help you understand an active case you could currently be working on. There is noway in hell you can solve a case in 8 to 10 hours. It takes long hours relentless fortitude to be an effective Law Enforcement officer.

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Thursday, Aug 14 at 7:11 AM CONCERNED wrote ...

AGAIN...NOTHING WILL BE DONE; THE TAXPAYERS WILL CONTINUE TO WASTE MONEY ON SUCH AS ROUNDTREE...AND EXCUSE ME...WHAT 'GOOD JOB'??? I DON'T THINK SO!!!

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Thursday, Aug 14 at 5:19 AM Mrs. B Abrams wrote ...

WoW!This type of behavior is not okay. This man is not prioritizing his duties. All work related material needs to be left at the job. He's getting paid to come to work, so why is he taking work home? What else has he taken home without the public knowledge? This man has issues,not only should he be investigated but he needs to be evaluated. (Waynesboro,Ga)

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Wednesday, Aug 13 at 6:05 PM Hotlanta wrote ...

I think it is rediculous that the news team would actaully take the time out to discuss this issue. There are so many more pressing news going on in the world that they would actually dig up something as unimportant as this to discuss. It is obvious that he is doing something right for them to dig as deep as they have dug. Kudos to you Roundtree and keep up the good work. Hotlanta

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Wednesday, Aug 13 at 9:02 AM Joyce Mckinzie wrote ...

It is obvious nothing will happen to Sgt Roundtree since they didn;t bring him back from FBI Academy at Virginia. Another southern grit and cheese breakfast party at the Sheriff Department

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