(Stone Mountain, Georgia)  Gwinnett County Police have arrested 35 year old Zachary Wilkerson, a former officer of the Gwinnett County Police Department. He was arrested for charges stemming from a weekend domestic dispute with his estranged wife and at least two other people. On August 7^th at approximately 1:30 am police were alerted to a domestic dispute involving Wilkerson. The complainant claimed that on the evening of August 6^th she began receiving disturbing text messages from Wilkerson on her best friend’s phone. The text messages were so alarming that she decided to call police to check on her friend’s well-being.

The friend also claimed that Wilkerson had been stalking his estranged wife and her boyfriend while he was on duty as a police officer. Numerous text messages were forwarded from the wife to her friend that were reportedly from Wilkerson. The text messages mentioned various equipment violations on her boyfriend’s vehicle and threats to impound the vehicle. Police also learned that Wilkerson had recently posted a sexually explicit video involving his estranged wife on Facebook.

Following the conversation with the best friend police made contact with the estranged wife at a different location and learned of a dispute that had taken place on August 6^th around 7pm. The wife told officers that she was at a friend’s house hanging out when Wilkerson showed up. During the party, Wilkerson took her phone without her permission and walked off with it. When he was asked to return the phone, he grabbed her by the throat and pushed her. Shortly thereafter, he pulled out his personal firearm. Others from the party approached him and begged him to put the firearm down. During the altercation, Wilkerson yelled obscenities as others continued trying to calm him down. Wilkerson then left the location with his wife’s cell phone. A short time later, the sexually explicit video was uploaded on his wife’s Facebook account.

After that conversation on August 7^th, police met with Wilkerson at a different location and were able to locate and return his wife’s phone. He was placed under arrest and transported to the Gwinnett County Detention Center for the following misdemeanor charges where he has since bonded out:

Simple Assault 3 counts
Theft by Taking
Battery
Transmission of video depicting nudity or sexually explicit conduct of an adult

This morning Zachary Wilkerson resigned from the Gwinnett County Police Department in lieu of termination. Wilkerson was hired June 22, 2015, and started operating as an officer on the street April 23, 2016. We are fortunate that this type of behavior was realized very early in his brief career. We find these allegations very disturbing and unbecoming of any of our core values and ethical standards. We do not tolerate any form of misconduct or criminal conduct by any police officer from this department. In this situation, Wilkerson represented everything that police do not stand for and we are fortunate that he is no longer an employee of this agency. 

The following dropbox link provides access to the police reports associated with this incident.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/b96nowxenn7t74p/AAD-d1DdrPcOQZVKCNZ3VlIka?dl=0