On Tuesday, Sept. 1, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested Georgia Department of Corrections Special Agent in Charge Robert “Bobby” Keim, 45, of Eatonton, on a charge of misuse of a license plate reader system.
The GDC asked the GBI to investigate on Aug. 18, according to a GBI notice. Mary Chandler, special agent in charge of the GBI’s Region 6 investigative office in Milledgeville, said preliminary information indicated Keim had used the GDC’s Flock Safety System for non-law enforcement purposes.
Keim has worked for the GDC for nearly nine years, conducting and overseeing criminal investigations, as well as internal and external investigations, according to his biography. He became special agent in charge in August 2026.
Keim is well known in the Eatonton and Putnam County area, not only because he lives there, but because he has frequently assisted investigators with the Eatonton Police Department and Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. He has been mentioned in several Eatonton Messenger articles for assisting EPD and PCSO as a translator.
Several years ago, Keim worked part-time with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, according to Sheriff Howard Sills.
“This arrest has nothing to do with anything he did at Putnam County Sheriff’s Office,” Sills said. “He didn’t have access to Flock as an employee of the sheriff’s office. And he has not been on our payroll in four years.”
Following his arrest, Keim was booked into the Putnam County Jail. Jail records show he was released on a $1,000 bond.