A Georgia golf course superintendent is out of a job after his role in a murder-for-hire scheme more than a decade ago was uncovered.
Until Sept. 26, Jim Watkins had been a contracted, non-employee superintendent of municipal Rincon Golf Course near Savannah. The city terminated his contract on Sept. 26 after a resident informed officials during a recent city council meeting of Watkins' role in trying to hire a hitman to murder his brother more than a decade ago in Florida.
In a series of events that seems straight out of a Rockbottum CC script, Watkins was arrested in Fort Lauderdale in 2011 after making arrangements to have his brother murdered over a dispute over their parents' multi-million dollar estate, according to court records.
Instead of hiring a hitman, Watkins, now 72 according to court records, unknowingly made his deal with an undercover policeman, according to records. He was convicted in 2014, served a prison sentence and remains on probation until 2030.
When informed of Watkins' past, Rincon officials said the city does not routinely conduct background checks on contract workers.
"We have taken swift and immediate action to address the city's liability as soon as we were able to confirm the allegations regarding the background of Mr. Watkins," City Manager Jonathan Lynn said on the city's X (Twitter) account.
The city is revisiting its policy on conducting background checks on contract workers. According to the City of Rincon X page: "The city is working to finalize their updated policy on background checks for anyone associated with the city."
There are no federal laws that prevent hiring a candidate because of a criminal record, however, laws differ at the state level.
According to state law in Georgia, under 35-3-34(3)(b), "employers that obtain criminal history records and decide not to hire them must inform the applicants about the origin of the information, its contents, and how it affected the decision not to hire them."