Mistaken Identity Kept Man in Fulton County Jail for Over 500 Days On Bogus Charge

An innocent man spent over 500 days in the Fulton County jail because his name was similar to that of a man who had failed to register as a sex offender, WSB-TV reports.

Randy Williams is a convicted child molester. Randy Wiggins, who suffers from mental health issues, is not. According to attorney David Paul Scott, Wiggins was arrested by police in June 2012 without his driver’s license on him and was assumed to be Williams.

Despite the pleas of Wiggins and his family, he remained incarcerated for 525 days under the assumption that he was Williams, according to WSB-TV.

• Read more of the WSB-TV report.

Wiggins’ family claims that he was abused in prison by fellow inmates, who thought that he was a child molester. Wiggins’ true identity was not revealed until he received a mental health checkup at Georgia Regional Hospital.

Now that he is out of jail, Wiggins’ family has filed a federal lawsuit against the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.

Tracy Flanagan, spokesperson for the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, told WSB-TV that it‘s unclear how Wiggins was mistakenly arrested, but the matter is under investigation.