Hill to begin prison sentence

At 11:43 a.m. Central Daylight Time on Monday, May 15, 2023, federal inmate Victor Keith Hill, Register Number 41909-509, surrendered to authorities at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ FCI Forrest City Low, AR.

Public Affairs spokesman Donald Murphy told The Clayton Crescent, “We can confirm, Victor Keith Hill, is in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Forrest City in Forrest City, Arkansas.”

The BOP’s online inmate locator will update at midnight tonight to reflect Hill’s current status. BOP policy is not to release mugshots or intake photos “with the exception of inmates that are actively on escape status.” Similarly, it is the policy of The Clayton Crescent not to publish mugshots unless an active public danger exists.

Hill, 58, who was sentenced to 18 months for violating the rights under color of law of six pretrial detainees in the Clayton County Jail, lost a bid to remain free while his case is at the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Earlier this morning, Hill had posted a video of himself, sporting flip-flops and beach wear, boarding what appears to be a private Cessna jet, holding a cellphone to one ear, carrying a briefcase, then saluting a man on the tarmac, boarding the plane, then waving and giving a thumbs-up before the man enters the plan and pull the stairs shut behind him. The video did not show the tail number.

Where's Waldo? At last check, FCI Forrest City Low, AR. https://t.co/d7JtPY9hSP

— @RKempNews (@RKempNewsDaily) May 15, 2023

A visual check of Atlanta Speedway Airport, the closest General Aviation airport to Hill’s former home in Hampton, showed the layout of hangars on site did not match that in the video. Sources there verified that the video was not of that location, although CCSO had kept some helicopters there.

One of Hill’s close associates, Jarrett Gorlin, is a commercial pilot who owns an aviation company, TAG Air. A 13-seat 2002 Cessna 560XL with tail number N115TL, resembling the plane in Hill’s video, is registered to SGMJ LLC of Destin, FL. FAA records show Gorlin requested the tail number on February 1, 2016.

The controversial former sheriff, who finds himself on the other side of the law, had gone radio silent since campaigning in person for his handpicked protege, Sheriff Levon Allen. Hill’s social media braggadocio, frequently painting him in Biblical terms or as the superhero Batman, has all but ended since the election.

Allen, who bought Hill’s Hampton property, is widely seen as “minding the store” for Hill while he’s incarcerated. CCSO continues its wall of silence against routine media requests, a policy Hill instituted, and the department’s general lack of transparency about conditions at the jail has led to a Congressional inquiry by Sen. Jon Ossoff.

However, when Hill completes his time, he will not be allowed to return to law enforcement, not even tangentially as a “consultant,” by order of U.S. Northern District of Georgia judge Eleanor L. Ross.

Hill’s best hope of getting his badge back would be if his conviction were overturned on appeal.

Meanwhile, a giant Levon Allen flag, similar to Hill’s, has appeared on the flagpole at Old Dixie Highway and I-75 over the weekend. Hill’s social media manager, Carl Johnson, announced on Facebook on May 6 that he plans to run for Clayton County chair:

Johnson served as Hill’s official mouthpiece on social media, occasionally launching personal attacks on Hill’s political opponents.