The Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested former Richmond County Sheriff’s Office Major Robert “Robbie” Silas after a probe that began with a tip received by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Silas, 59, faces felony pandering, misdemeanor solicitation of sodomy, and felony violation of oath of office. Agents took him into custody Monday night, August 31, 2026, and first booked him at the Wilkes County jail before a transfer toward Richmond County custody.
Silas had served the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office since 1989 and risen from lieutenant to major. In recent years he led the Special Operations Division. He also served as a public face of the agency on crime suppression work, holiday robbery details, and homeless outreach teams that sent workers into the field each day. In 2012, while still a lieutenant, he ran as a Democratic candidate for Richmond County sheriff.
Richard Roundtree won that race and took office the same year. Agency biographical material had described Silas as a married father and grandfather who coached Little League baseball for more than four decades. The sheriff’s office asked the GBI to look into allegations that Silas solicited sodomy and prostitution in the Augusta area. Officials have said the request followed events tied to August 28.
The FBI Augusta Resident Agency assisted. Investigators say the case grew from a federal tip rather than an ordinary internal complaint. Court statements by District Attorney Jared Williams described a male victim over whom Silas held authority outside the sheriff’s office. Sources have identified the man as a tenant in a house Silas owned.
According to Williams, the victim’s fiancé raised an outcry last week and told the victim’s mother. The mother placed a camera inside the home. Officials say the recording showed Silas performing sodomy on the victim while wearing a Richmond County Sheriff’s Office uniform. Williams told the court the conduct dated back at least five years and that some of the acts occurred during the workday.
GBI agents served a search warrant at Silas’s home in Hephzibah late Monday night. Additional warrants covered electronic devices. Jail records listed the three charges that now define the case. Pandering is charged as a felony.
Solicitation of sodomy is charged as a misdemeanor. Violation of oath of office is charged as a felony, a count commonly used when a sworn officer is accused of using the office itself to commit or conceal a crime. Silas appeared before Judge Charles Lyons. The court first considered a total bond of $7,000.
After Silas said he was unsure he could post that amount, the judge set a $5,000 total bond: $2,000 on pandering, $1,000 on solicitation of sodomy, and $2,000 on the oath charge. Bond conditions bar contact with the victim, the victim’s family, and the victim’s friends. He also may not possess a firearm or other offensive weapon. Jail staff covered Silas with blankets as he left the Wilkes County jail.
The state did not oppose bond. The victim was notified of the hearing and did not take a position on release. The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Tuesday that Silas had been fired. Capt.
Danny Whitehead earlier declined to discuss details while the agency verified facts and prepared an official statement. Sheriff Eugene Brantley’s office has said more information would follow once the record was complete. The firing ends a career that spanned more than three decades inside the same department now prosecuting the case through outside investigators. The charges remain allegations.
Silas has not entered a public plea in the coverage available so far, and the courts will decide guilt. The combination of a landlord and tenant relationship, a camera placed by a family member, and a uniformed officer on the recording has made the case unusually public for an internal law enforcement scandal. The GBI’s role is standard when a high ranking local officer is the subject.
The FBI’s early tip and later assistance show how the matter crossed from a local complaint into a joint state and federal review. Public reaction in Augusta has focused on trust. Special Operations work includes high visibility enforcement, warrant service, and special assignment teams. A major who oversaw those units now stands accused of using a position of power in a private rental arrangement.
The oath charge is the legal hook that turns private sexual conduct, if proved, into an official crime. Georgia law treats a peace officer’s oath as a continuing duty. A felony conviction on that count can end certification as well as employment. The timeline reconstructed by prosecutors and investigators is still incomplete in public records.
Officials have said the pattern lasted years. They have not released a full list of dates beyond the August window that triggered the sheriff’s office request to the GBI. Device searches may add more. The camera evidence, as described in court, is the clearest single piece now on the record: a family member’s recording of an officer in uniform.
Silas’s earlier public life adds contrast. He spoke for the office on robbery details and community programs. He coached children for forty years. Those facts do not answer the charges.
They explain why the arrest landed with force in Richmond County. A man who had spent his adult life inside the sheriff’s office is now a defendant in the same county’s courts. The case now moves from arrest to prosecution. Bond is set.
Contact with the alleged victim is forbidden. The sheriff’s office has severed employment. The GBI and FBI have already executed searches. What remains is the evidence itself, the defense response, and a trial or plea that will decide whether the charges hold.
Until then the public record is this: a long serving major, a federal tip, a family camera, three charges, a reduced bond, and a firing completed within a day of the booking.
