Chief of Staff to the Cobb County Sheriff arrested on insurance fraud charges

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The Chief of Staff to the Cobb County Sheriff is accused of lying to police and filing a fraudulent insurance claim.

Channel 2′s Cobb County Bureau Chief Michelle Newell first broke the story on Thursday on Channel 2 Action News.

Major Braxton Cotton turned himself in Friday on two felony charges and a misdemeanor. He’s since been released.

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Newell learned that an investigation was initiated on March 15 due to the report of an accident. According to warrants, Cotton lied to a Cobb County police officer that he knew well about a hit-and-run accident that he claimed happened on March 14.

According to warrants, he told the officer through texts and phone calls that someone hit his car. License plate reading camera images showed Cotton’s car was not damaged hours after he claimed it had been.

The warrant goes on to say that Cotton admitted to the officer that his car wasn’t damaged in a hit-and-run and said it had been hit sometime between midnight and 2 a.m. on March 5 by a woman he knew.

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Cotton told police the woman was driving without insurance at the time. Traffic cameras prove that wasn’t true either.

Cellphone data from Cotton’s phone service provider showed him in contact with the same woman before and after the alleged accident, which is inconsistent with what Cotton allegedly told the officer.

Court documents show the woman received insurance coverage the day after the alleged accident. Cotton is accused of filing a fraudulent insurance claim as a hit-and-run despite knowing who hit him. He’s now facing charges of making a false statement, making a false report of a crime and committing insurance fraud.

The Cobb County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement, saying.

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“Effective immediately, Sheriff Craig Owens has placed Maj. Braxton Cotton on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation. The investigation is unrelated to his duties at the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Owens will await the culmination of a fair trial before further commenting on the case”

Prior to joining the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, Cotton was the director of both the Governor’s Office of Transition, Support and Reentry and the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.

Cotton has been a police officer, deputy sheriff and a Georgia state trooper.

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