Merits for Moulton: Lieutenant receives award named after friend and mentor

HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. – Houston County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Matthew Moulton received the Joseph Whitehead Jr. Award for his service as a narcotics investigator.

Moulton was nominated for the award for his work in his investigation into a Houston County drug organization where Dexter Williams was ringleader. His hard work and those involved led to the arrest of Williams who will serve 40 years in prison without the possibility of parole.

“Dexter Williams will not be able to put poison on the streets of Houston County again for the rest of his life and to me that’s why I do my job and that’s why these prosecutors do the job is to try to protect our citizens and to try to keep these drugs off the street,” said Moulton.

Moulton has served in narcotics since 2003 and this year marks his 20-year service to the community.

The award was named after his friend and mentor Joseph Whitehead Jr., who was a former narcotics investigator in Bibb County. Whitehead was shot and killed when executing a narcotic search warrant on March 23, 2006. Moulton reflects on their time conducting investigations and working together.

“We worked a lot of drug cases together in the early 2000s between the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office and our drug unit and Joe and I developed a good friendship, a close friendship and to be recognized by the Georgia Narcotics Association as a recipient of this award, it just means a lot to me because I personally knew Joe. I knew what he stood for, I knew the kind of husband and father that he was, I knew the kind of deputy he was. He did the job the right way and he didn’t cut corners. I learned a lot from him,” said Moulton.

Moulton expressed his gratitude towards the entire department including District Attorney William Kendall and Assistant District Attorney Greg Winters. He said their leadership and support in investigations make everything possible. He added that the community should be proud to have them in the District Attorney Office.

“We’re taking bad guys off the streets of Houston County and middle Georgia that are putting poison on the streets that are killing our kids and our family members and our community members. They’re taking those people off the streets and putting them in prison for a long time,” said Moulton.

He also added his gratitude to the leadership of Sheriff Cullen Talton and Deputy Chief Billy Rape, who he said has provided him and the drug unit with every resource and tool that they need to do their job. He said without them, it wouldn’t have been possible.

HHJ News