ADAMS COUNTY, Ohio — After several Adams County sheriff's deputies sued Afroman in a case that recently went to trial, another Adams County Sheriff's Office has been catching hate online, despite being hundreds of miles away from Ohio.
The jury in the trial of Joseph Foreman, known professionally as Afroman, ruled in the entertainer's favor on Wednesday, after sheriff's deputies accused him of using their likeness without permission.
“I didn’t win," Afroman said after the verdict was delivered. "America won. America still has freedom of speech. It’s still for the people by the people.
Afroman went on to say, "This whole thing is their fault. They broke into my house, put themselves on my video cameras, and into my music career. With my freedom of speech, I had the right to talk about the events going on in my life, with my family, with my friends, and with my fans."
Thousands of people watched our live stream of the trial and weighed in on many moments during it. Many viewers were critical and wondered over claims the Adams County Sheriff's Office had mishandled and possibly lost or stolen some cash seized in the search of Afroman's home.
That criticism seems to have also found its way to an unintended target: The Adams County Sheriff's Office all the way in Colorado.
"So, some of you have heard, most of you haven't," Sgt. Shea Haney says in a video the agency posted to social media Wednesday afternoon. "The Adams County Sheriff's Office in Ohio and Afroman are in litigation with each other. We know some of you have heard it, though."
The video's screen then fills with screenshots of messages referencing lemon pound cake, asking who stole Afroman's money and accusing the agency of corruption, while a lighthearted tune plays.
"So, we wanted to provide you with a quick geography lesson," said Haney. "We are the Adams County Sheriff's Office in Colorado. They are the Adams County Sheriff's Office in Ohio. So, before you start sending us messages, calling us, emailing us, DMing us, you may wanna Google it."
The post itself has plenty of engagement, and Haney's video had been viewed over 450,000 times by Thursday morning. Most of the comments beneath it are jokes or references about Afroman, including the now-infamous lemon pound cake.
The Adams County Sheriff's Office has received a flood of social media comments, DMs, and phone calls about the #Afroman defamation trial. It’s clear this is important to a lot of people. There's just one small issue: that's the ACSO in Ohio. We are the ACSO in #Colorado.… pic.twitter.com/MJWtu96YbR
— Adams County Sheriff's Office (Colorado) (@AdamsCoSheriff) March 18, 2026
Here's how and why the civil trial of Afroman even happened in the first place
In 2022, Afroman shared photos and videos of a law enforcement raid on his Adams County home, in which armed deputies could be seen breaking down a door and searching the house.
At the time, Sergeant Brian Newland of the Adams County Sheriff's Office told us the raid was part of an "ongoing investigation" and said he couldn't release a lot of information on the details. He did tell us the sheriff's department served a warrant on August 21, 2022 at around 8 p.m. and that items of evidence were recovered during the search.
According to Afroman, the warrant was for drug trafficking and kidnapping. After the raid, the performer wrote music about it, set to surveillance videos from his home that captured moments of the deputies' search, until they disabled the cameras.
When we spoke with Afroman in May 2023, he told us he turned to music to cope with the humiliation he felt after the raid.
"I got mad," he said. "I wrote down everything that annoyed me."
"Lemon Pound Cake," "Why You Disconnecting My Video Camera," "Will You Help Me Repair My Door" and " I'm A Have A Good Time" are just some of the songs on his new album titled "Lemon Pound Cake" that he said was inspired by the raid.
"I turn a bad situation into a good one, you know, they brought me material," Afroman said.
The artist said the raid caused his home significant damage. He also said the deputies stole some of his money.
"$400 came up missing from what they said they had. So the crime scene switches from my house to the police station. They started investigating themselves and they say it was simply a miscount," he said. "How do you miscount $400?"
Several members of the Adams County Sheriff's Office were not fans of the new music. They sued Afroman for using their images without permission for multiple commercial purposes.
The plaintiffs argued that Afroman used their likeness and depictions "without the authorization of any of the plaintiffs to do so." The lawsuit went on to say that the plaintiffs had "suffered humiliation, ridicule, mental distress, embarrassment and loss of reputation." The lawsuit claims they also received death threats.
Afroman told us in 2023 that he was shocked to learn about the lawsuit.
"From the first 10 seconds. I was offended. I was appalled. I was like 'what?' Then I started laughing," he said. "These guys with their rifles are crying about my comedy songs."
Fast forward to March 16, 2026 and Afroman, decked out in an American flag suit with matching glasses, was sitting in an Adams County court room at the start of the civil lawsuit trial. Over the three-day trial, a jury heard from each of the deputies involved in the lawsuit, followed by a Clermont County official involved in the investigation into the missing money.
Afroman himself also took the stand to testify.
The jury took hours to deliberate on Wednesday, but ultimately handed down a verdict fully in favor of Afroman.
