GAFFNEY, S.C.
A former Gaffney police officer accused of beating his 10-year-old son formally pleaded not guilty Monday morning and requested a jury trial.
Wilbert Jamison Jr. was indicted on Jan. 13 on three counts of unlawful conduct towards a child. He is also charged with criminal domestic violence, accused of injuring his wife.
Monday, he was in court for a preliminary hearing, that quickly turned into a bond hearing.
Jamison's attorney had asked the judge to let his client remain out on the $5,200 bond Jamison had already paid in connection with a domestic violence charge. But the judge set a bond for the abuse charges at $50,000
The judge ordered that Jamison be tracked by GPS monitoring and not leave his home except to go to work, to church, to meet with his lawyer or to go to the doctor.
He was also ordered to have no contact with his son or his wife.
A trial date has not yet been set.
According to a grand jury indictment, Jamison used handcuffs and a belt to abuse his son -- on one occasion locking him in a closet face-down while he was handcuffed.
According to a warrant, Jamison also shoved his wife, causing her to fall to the ground and hit her head.
Jamison was a Gaffney police officer starting in the late 1990s, and he served as both a patrol officer and a school resource officer at Gaffney Middle School.
Jamison resigned late last year, citing personal reasons. The alleged abuse took place while Jamison was an active duty officer.
The indictment says that between April 1 and Aug. 30, 2007, Jamison handcuffed his son and forced him to run back and forth in the yard while Jamison beat him with a belt, causing him severe physical and mental injury.
In the second count, the indictment alleges that between Jan. 1 and April 30, 2007, Jamison handcuffed the boy, and locked him faced own in a closet.
The third count of the indictment says that between Dec. 6 and Dec. 8, 2006, Jamison beat the child with a belt, and the belt and buckle caused severe injury to the boy's ankle and foot.
Current Gaffney Police Chief Rick Turner said that he cannot comment on why Jamison continued to work for the department during the investigation because he was not chief at the time.
Jamison's wife, Teresa Jamison, said that she still married to Jamison, but is seeking a divorce so she and her son can move on.
Teresa Jamison said, "We've formed … a new family without the abuse. And any time you get rid of abuse, it can only go up from there."
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