FBI Raids Home, Office of Former Loganville Councilman

FBI agents raided the home and office of a former Loganville City Councilman on Thursday.

Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman said federal agents served search warrants Thursday morning at the home and law offices of Austin O. Jones.

“We were requested by the FBI to assist them in the service of their warrants,” Chapman said. He said more warrants were expected to be served over the course of the day.

Atlanta-based FBI Special Agent Stephen Emmett confirmed that the FBI, along with local law enforcement, executed federal search warrants in the Loganville area Thursday morning. But he did not provide further details.

Witnesses reported to the Loganville Local seeing computers and other items being removed from Jones’ law offices in Loganville.

A message to the law offices seeking comment for this story was not immediately returned.

Jones resigned his seat on the Loganville City Council in 2008, saying at the time that his family had moved outside of city limits.

On a blog he updated regularly during his tenure on the council, Jones called himself a conservative who believes “in strong, traditional family values, the abolition of our current tax code in favor of a fair tax, and a strong military.”

His biography on his law firm’s website says he graduated from the University of Georgia and John Marshall Law School in Atlanta and is currently secretary/treasurer for the Walton County Bar Association.

He is married with one son.

In 2006, as a new councilman, Jones sponsored an ordinance cracking down on sexual predators. The way it was worded, it essentially banned many convicted sex offenders from living in Loganville.

Loganville straddles the Gwinnett-Walton county line and is located partially in both counties.