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James “Moto” Williams, a Chambers County Commissioner, was arrested on charges of criminal trespassing in the third degree on Thursday at 3:53 p.m. CT. Private citizen, Brandon Clifton, signed a warrant against Williams earlier in the day. 

Williams was contacted and declined to comment at this time. 

Clifton signed the warrant for an incident that occurred on March 11. According to the incident report, Williams had been cutting a fire line on an adjacent property to Clifton’s, as an employee of the Alabama Forestry Commission. 

While driving a bulldozer, Williams crossed onto Clifton’s property line and, “cleared out approximately 150 feet in length and 50 feet in width that goes down to 2 feet…Clifton stated he cleared the underbrush and Sweet Gum Tree which was approximate value of $1,500,” as stated in the report.  

According to the police report, Clifton’s wife saw Williams working on their property and notified him. Clifton reported it to CCSO Deputy David Maddux when he arrived on scene. Williams was not present at this time. 

However, Clifton said the main reason for pressing charges was that a survey pin marking his property line was knocked out of place by Williams. He said the estimated quote by an Alabama surveyor to replace the pin was $5,000. 

Another entry in the incident report states that the lead investigator, Joshua Barnes, reached out to Clifton asking if he would press charges. It states that Clifton was, “unsure if he wanted to press charges…because he wasn’t sure if Williams damaged property intentionally.”

Clifton said he followed up with Williams’ supervisor in the Forestry Commission, asking that they pay for the replacement survey pin. According to Clifton, the conversation fizzled out in the following months, leading to the pressing of charges. 

The supervisors allegedly gave Clifton conflicting information on if Williams was contracted to be on the neighbor’s land and that the fire lane was supposed to be burned. 

“I was told by both parties that was representing the Forestry Commission that they were supposed to burn it, and they never burned,” Clifton said. 

The incident came less than a week after Clifton gave public comment at a Chambers County Commission meeting criticizing the county’s purchase of property in the Buffalo community to be used for a vegetative debris site. He was one of three citizens to speak against the decision that night and has spoken at meetings since. 

Clifton signed the warrant on Nov. 14, which he said the Sheriff’s Office originally would not sign, saying it was not a criminal matter, but a civil matter. 

“It’s not up to the sheriff, it’s not up to an investigator, it’s not up to a DA to determine whether they’re guilty or innocent. That’s what the jury’s there for. But if there’s enough probable cause there, then it puts it into the court system,” Clifton argued. 

The Buffalo resident said he was at the Sheriff’s Office for three hours waiting for the warrant to be signed. When they told him it was a civil matter, Clifton went to the DA’s office. Eventually the warrant for Criminal Trespassing in the 3rd degree was signed and executed by Chief Deputy Mike Parrish. 

Ala. Code 1975, § 13A-7-4 states that, “A person commits the crime of criminal trespass in the third degree if he/she knowingly enters or remains unlawfully in or upon premises.”

In order to convict the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they entered or remained unlawfully on the premises and that they did so knowingly.   

Clifton believes that the incident was purposeful, given the ongoing debate surrounding the debris site. 

Williams’s bond was set at $2,500 and he was released at 4:05 p.m. CT, after voluntarily surrendering himself when notified of the warrant, according to Parrish.

The warrant comes a day after the Nov. 13 Commission meeting where Williams and other board members voted to deny a land covenant on the site. The Commission had asked Clifton to draw up a covenant, a legal agreement that can be used to impose negative or positive obligations on a landowner, in this case the county. 

Clifton said he didn’t want to take legal action while the covenant was being considered, so as to not have a, “bad outcome and hurt the [Buffalo] community as a whole.”

The community has been outspoken with the concern that the debris site will be turned into a landfill.  The Commission has maintained that the site will only be a vegetative debris site in compliance with ADEM regulations. A covenant would make the intended use binding, for this Commission and all future Commissions. The goal, according to Clifton, was to make sure future boards can’t turn the site into a landfill.  

When asked if he decided to press charges against Williams after the covenant was denied, Clifton said, “I was very disappointed in the outcome…I’m not going to sit here and say that wasn’t part of the reason. That had some play in it, but he still broke the law.”