Cobb DA Vic Reynolds Tapped To Lead GBI

ATLANTA -- Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds has been chosen by Gov. Brian Kemp to become the new head of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Kemp made the announcement on Friday that Reynolds will replace the retiring Vernon Keenan, who had headed the agency for 15 years but announced his retirement last year.

Keenan has served in the post since Jan. 18, 2011, when he was re-appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal. According to the GBI's website, Keenan has been appointed to every rank within the GBI, and he previously served as assistant director before taking over the top post nearly eight years ago.

Reynolds, according to the Cobb District Attorney's office, was born and raised in Rome, Ga., and is a graduate of Floyd County public schools. In 1979 he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Georgia Southern University, in Statesboro.

After graduating, Reynolds returned to Rome, where he was in law enforcement for four years. In 1986, Vic graduated from law school at Georgia State University and began prosecuting felony cases as an assistant district attorney in Fulton and Cobb counties. He was a prosecutor in Cobb when he was appointed as Chief Magistrate in 1994.

Reynolds won election to a full term as Chief Magistrate in 1996, earning 72 percent of the vote. As Chief Magistrate, his duties included presiding over the Cobb County Drug Court. He left the bench in 1999 and began practicing criminal-defense law.

In July 2012, Reynolds was chosen by voters as the Republican nominee for District Attorney of the Cobb Judicial Circuit, and he won the office without opposition in the Nov. 6, 2012, general election.

Keenan started his career as a DeKalb County police officer in November 1972. In June 1973, he signed on with the GBI to become a special agent assigned to the northwestern sector of the state. He was later promoted to the commander of the state's Auto Theft Squad and became the special agent in charge of northwest Georgia in August 1982.

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