The man killed Monday during a standoff with law enforcement near the Bulloch/Bryan County line was a registered sex offender and had been jailed in 2014 for attacking deputies during a routine compliance check.
Gary M. Wigley, 52, Highway 119 N., Brooklet, was convicted in 1988 on charges of child molestation and cruelty to a child, according to sex offender registry records.
In March 2014, when he lived on Horseshoe Road in Bloomingdale, Wigley reportedly became agitated when a deputy visited his home for a routine sex offender compliance check and violently resisted arrest, according to an Effingham Herald article published shortly after the incident.
He fled from deputies, then became combative, fighting as they took him into custody, according to the article. In that case, Wigley was charged with felony obstruction of a law enforcement officer with violence and battery.
He was supposed to be in Effingham County Superior Court Jan. 9, appearing before Ogeechee Judicial Circuit Judge William Woodrum Jr., regarding yet another, more recent case, where he was charged with false imprisonment, obstruction, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, disorderly conduct and simple assault, according to Woodrum’s criminal bench trial calendar.
When he did not appear, the bench warrant was issued. During a press conference Thursday afternoon, Bulloch County sheriff Noel Brown said Effingham County Sheriff’s deputies asked for assistance from Bulloch County deputies in serving the warrant at Wigley’s home around 10 p.m. Monday.
Wigley had only been living in Bulloch County about a month, he said. When asked about details regarding the case from which the bench warrant originated, Brown would only say it was a felony case.
Effingham County Sheriff’s spokesman Investigator Joe Heath did not return phone calls this week seeking further information about the bench warrant and the case.
The night Wigley was shot, he was at a residence on Highway 119 in Bulloch County near the Eldora community, where
Effingham County sheriff’s Sgt. Gary Provost, Effingham County sheriff’s Deputy Nathan Singletary and Bulloch County sheriff’s Sgt. Reynaldo Rodriguez attempted to serve the bench warrant, according to Bill Bodrey, special agent-in-charge of the Region 5 Georgia Bureau of Investigation office in Statesboro, which is investigating the incident at the request of the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office.
Wigley fled into an abandoned mobile home near his home and aimed a long gun at deputies, who fired after he refused orders to drop the gun, he said. Wigley was killed.
Brown said preliminary results of the autopsy revealed Wigley “died as a result of gunshot wounds” but would not elaborate on how many wounds he suffered or what type of gun was involved.
The final autopsy report is pending additional testing, Bodrey said.
Rodriguez, as is routine when there is an officer-involved shooting, was placed on administrative leave but will return to work Wednesday, Brown said.
He did not have information about the Effingham County deputies, and Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie was not immediately available for comment Thursday after the press conference in Statesboro.
“The GBI is continuing its independent investigation of the incident,” Bodrey said. “When the investigation is complete, it will be turned over to the Ogeechee District Attorney's Office for any action they deem appropriate.”
Holli Deal Saxon may be reached at (912) 489-9414.