By Joe Johnson
An Athens man on Wednesday was arrested for a second time in four years for committing felonies while on parole.
The first arrest was in September 2017, when Jahmal Anthony Swaby was arrested at Hardee’s on North Avenue, where Athens-Clarke County police said he sexually assaulted a woman in the restroom.
When officers arrived, police said they surrounded Swaby and tried speaking with him, but he ran off. Officers soon caught and arrested him on charges of indecent exposure, loitering or prowling, and obstruction of a law enforcement officer.
He was subsequently indicted for false imprisonment and sexual battery. Court records show that in accordance with a plea deal, Swaby was sentenced to six years in prison and four years on probation.
At the time, Swaby was on parole for the apparent thrill-killing of a cat three years earlier.
In November 2014, Swaby was arrested after a neighbor reported he had placed a cat in a cage with a dog at his Conrad Drive home and then laughed as he urged the dog to “get it.” Police said the cat was dead when they arrived.
An investigator called the cat’s death an apparent “thrill kill.”
Swaby in June 2015 pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and aggravated animal cruelty. He was sentenced to eight years in prison and 12 years on probation, court records show. He also pleaded guilty to threatening a witness who had called 911 to report the animal cruelty incident, as well as to a charge of illegal possession of a firearm, which had been stolen, and theft by receiving stolen property.
Swaby was paroled in July 2017, after serving less than two years of his prison sentence.
A grand jury indicted Swaby on charges of sexual battery and false imprisonment, according to the indictment recently filed in Clarke County Superior Court.
As for the sexual battery case, and as the result of a negotiated guilty plea, Swaby in March 2019, was sentenced to 10 years, with the first six years to be served in confinement and the balance on credit.
He was paroled from Dodge State Prison on Jan. 4 of this year.
Swab’s most recent arrest came Wednesday morning, after officers responded to Stone Mill Run in reference to a stolen vehicle 2007 Chrysler 200, according to police. The victim reportedly left the car running in the parking lot with the keys inside, and police said her purse and iPhone were also inside the vehicle.
While officers were responding, police said, the victim was able to track the location on her iPhone. The iPhone was tracking to various locations throughout the county, eventually to the area of Broad and Lumpkin streets, police said
The location movement slowed down considerably in this area as if the phone was no longer in a vehicle, according to police who said that officers made contact with Swaby in the location that the iPhone was shown to be. The victim was then able to activate an alert on her stolen iPhone and officers discovered that the person that they were out with (Swaby) was in possession of the stolen phone and they arrested him.
“During a search, other property, to include credit cards, was located on his person,” Lt. Shaun Barnett said. “Officers were able to make contact with the individuals named on the credit cards and learned that the items were stolen from an unreported entering auto that had occurred earlier this week.
Swaby was booked into the county jail on five counts of financial transaction card theft, and one count each of motor vehicle theft, and theft by receiving stolen property.
Swaby, 27, was booked in with his address listed as 300 Patrol Road in Forsyth, which is an address for the Georgia Department of Corrections.
He was being held without bond Thursday due to a hold on his release that was placed by the state Board of Pardons and Paroles.