ATLANTA — Only Channel 2 Action News is getting insight from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation about the team that has been handpicked to investigate allegations of voter fraud in Georgia.

Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne has learned that the special team that will be assisting the Secretary of State’s office in their investigation will be made of eight agents who will look at cases from across the state.

“We follow our leads, we follow our evidence wherever it goes,” GBI special agent in charge Bahan Rich told Winne. “Our challenge is trying to separate out the noise from the original source of the information.”

The hand-picked election fraud task force will look into allegations of improprieties concerning the 2020 general election.

“They have experience working a wide range of investigations. Also, their level of technical expertise. They were also handpicked because they have experience working with other local, state and federal partners,” said Nelly Miles with the GBI.

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Miles told Winne that the inspector overseeing the task force, Eve Rodgers, is one of the highest ranking investigators at the GBI and has overseen some of the bureau’s highest-profile, highest-pressure cases including the GBI investigation into the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery in Glynn County, which yielded murder charges against two men within two days of the GBI’s entry into the case and later against a third man.

Miles said Rich has supervised many high-profile officer-involved shooting investigations.

“Right now, we have approximately 15 investigations going on throughout the state and assisting those with the secretary of state’s office,” Rich said.

Assistant special agent in charge Brian Johnston has also handled big cases, including recently the killing of two young women found beneath a bridge in Rome in which murder charges were brought against three men.

“We’re working with agencies that are known to be aggressive and carry a lot of integrity,” said Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs.

Fuchs said the Secretary of State’s Office has about two dozen investigators but has gotten more than 250 reports to look into concerning the 2020 election.

Fuchs said that is why Gov. Brian Kemp granted the request made by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for GBI assistance.

“They have only so many hours of the day to complete the investigations that they have and so we’re excited to have an expanded bandwidth,” Fuchs said.

Fuchs also told Winne that the FBI is assisting her office in investigating allegations of voter fraud in one county and she hopes the involvement of the GBI and FBI will help assure the public such allegations will be proven or disproven.

Cox Media Group