Facebook video lands Burke County man in jail for ‘interceptions’

WAYNESBORO, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – A Burke County man has been jailed and charged with a felony after a live video he shot on Facebook was viewed thousands of times.

The video was shot by Jeremy Huffman and shows a group of people standing by.

Huffman filmed on his property.

In court on Friday, Huffman faced a wiretapping charge.

The I-TEAM was there in court and spoke with Huffman’s family. The I-TEAM also heard from the Burke County Sheriff.

Huffman filmed Thursday.

In the video, Huffman placed a ladder on a tree on his property, climbed into it and began filming.

It showed a large crowd of people, tents and loud music.

“The Burke County Sheriff’s Office is probably going to put me in jail or do something to me,” Huffman said in the video.

About 45 minutes later, Burke County deputies were at Huffman’s home.

At the scene, deputies say they met with a complainant, who reported suspicious activity near the property.

MORE FROM THE I-TEAM:

According to a news release from the Burke County Sheriff’s Office, the complainant was in his tent on the property when he heard noises coming from a wooded area near his location.

Upon investigation, the complainant discovered an individual, identified as Huffman, in a nearby tree.

According to the press release, Huffman allegedly recorded the complainant and the surrounding area on a cell phone.

In Huffman’s video, you can hear deputies instructing him to get out of the tree.

Huffman climbed down from the tree and was arrested and charged with eavesdropping, which is a felony.

A statement from the sheriff’s office says this is one of several calls they have responded to over the past year involving both landowners.

On Friday, Huffman was in court for his bond hearing, where a judge set his bond at $2,500.

The I-TEAM was with Huffman’s family and attorney, who say they are moving aggressively to have the charges dismissed.

“I have not seen anything like this. There is no crime here. His arrest is inconsistent with the statute they arrested him for. There is no crime. He was on his property doing what he was allowed to do. He did not supervise or do anything to violate this statute, period. It was a mistaken arrest by law enforcement. There is no factual or legal basis for this. It was on his property,” said Huffman’s attorney, Christopher Connell.

Connell says it’s all confusing to him.

“I am perplexed. I’ve never seen anything like it. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen anything like this, but I’ve been doing this for 30 years and it’s all very different and new to me,” Connell said.

Sheriff Alfonzo Williams did a live Facebook video on the sheriff’s office Facebook page to share his side of the arrest.

“I’m as open and transparent as I can be and as simple as I can be. I take no part here. I’m on the side of what’s legal,” Williams said in the Facebook Live video.

Williams showed several past incident reports.

“In most cases, Mr. Huffman mocked these people. In several cases, they found that he had multiple speakers at the border of his property and that the music was excessively loud. Although there is no ordinance against this, it compounds the problem,” Williams said.

Huffman’s family reported to Burke County that neighbors were often shooting guns.

As for Huffman, his family says he broke free Friday night.

The I-TEAM continues to seek more information about the county ordinance, the felony charge Huffman faces and who the group is who lives next door.