Accused Ringleader In Jail Attack Denied Bond

A Georgia Department of Corrections investigator accused of orchestrating an attack on an inmate at the Floyd County Jail was denied bond Thursday morning.

Floyd County Superior Court Judge Kay Ann King said she denied bond for Hannah Danielle Rittweger because she was recorded discussing making contact with the son of the victim, whom she knew, in a jailhouse phone call.

“This is exactly the type of situation, possibly obstructing the case, that the statutes for denying bond were written about,” King said. “And for that, I cannot offer you a bond.”

Rittweger is accused of organizing the beating. The victim, a former youth pastor from Cartersville who pleaded guilty to child molestation, was a member of her church, according to Floyd County Assistant District Attorney Morgan Bottger.

Most of the people involved are cooperating with the investigation, Bottger said, and the rest of the defendants were offered bond — including the man accused of delivering the beating, GDOC officer Joshua Lee Riddle.

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Floyd County Sheriff’s Office reports, Riddle attacked Codding at the Floyd County Jail on June 4 while he was in the process of being transported to state prison.

According to warrants, Riddle seriously beat the victim and threatened to kill him. Rittweger is accused of providing the name of the inmate to Riddle before the attack.

Prosecutors said Rittweger wasn’t at the jail during the incident, but there are social media messages between Riddle and Rittweger after the beating where Riddle stated he’d “talked” with the victim.

While Riddle is accused of the actual attack, GDOC officers Donna Michelle Pettyjohn and Billy Joe Lingerfelt are accused of acting as lookouts during the attack. Former jail officer Logan Eugene Nelson reported the attack to a supervisor after it happened but is accused of attempting to hide the attack while it was happening.

The judge granted a $50,000 bond for Riddle, bonds of $20,000 each for Pettyjohn and Nelson and a $25,000 bond for Lingerfelt.