Nationwide — Nickie Sledge, a 49-year-old African American woman from Canton, Georgia, says she was wrongfully arrested and jailed after police mistook her for a White woman from Kentucky who has the same name. Her legal team plans to sue the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, saying the mistake left her humiliated and traumatized.
Sledge was arrested on December 21, 2024, while spending time with her grandson. According to 11Alive, officers charged her with abusing and neglecting a disabled or elderly person — offenses that her attorneys say were meant for 43-year-old Nikki Sledge of Kentucky.
Court records show the real suspects were tied to a Kentucky address. The victim in the case was the grandfather of the Kentucky woman’s husband, and a witness told investigators that the couple had already left Georgia and were living in Kentucky.
Despite these details, Sledge was arrested in Georgia, strip-searched, and booked into Rockdale County Jail. She was later transferred to the Cherokee County Detention Center, where she was searched again and held for three days before being released.
Her attorney, Harry Daniels, said all charges were dismissed in February 2025. He described the experience as a “nightmare” that left Sledge’s mugshot circulating online even though she had no criminal record.
“This is a person that has no criminal record,” Daniels said. “She’s a hard-working taxpaying citizen, a law-abiding citizen, and all of a sudden, on a good day, happy day, spending time with your grandchild you get arrested, you get taken away, ripped. Your freedom of liberty is taken away, all because somebody didn’t do their job.”
The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said they only learned of the situation through media reports. Officials stated they had not received any communication from Sledge or her attorney but were “actively reviewing the situation to understand what occurred.”