Sitting Burke County Sheriff Alfonzo Williams of Waynesboro was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Georgia on five counts of extortion under the color of official right and one count of transfer of a firearm to a convicted felon.

The indictment, returned by the July term of the grand jury, alleges the offenses occurred from August 2021 to April 2022, with the indictment asserting that Williams requested and accepted monetary payments from five individuals in exchange for dismissing pending citations for driving under the influence. Additionally, the indictment charges that in January 2023, Williams provided a firearm to an individual previously convicted of a felony.

Williams, 55, has been sheriff of Burke County since January 2017. Prior to being elected sheriff, Williams was chief of police for the Richmond County School System from April 2013 through December 2016 and he was chief of police for the Waynesboro Police Department from March 2011 to March 2013.

The extortion charges each carry a statutory penalty upon conviction of up to 20 years in prison, along with financial penalties and up to three years of supervised release upon completion of any prison term. The firearms charge carries a statutory penalty upon conviction of up to 15 years in prison, along with financial penalties and up to three years of supervised release.

There is no parole in the federal system.

This case is being investigated by the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted for the United States by assistant U.S. Attorneys Tara M. Lyons and Timothy P. Dean.