Bubba Copeland’s death focus of standard investigation, not his onlin…

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said the circumstances surrounding Smiths Station Mayor F.L. “Bubba” Copeland’s Friday afternoon suicide are under investigation, which he said is a standard procedure in such deaths.

A WVTM report that included accounts from two women who said their names and likenesses were used in online posts reportedly from Copeland mentioned the investigation.

That report did not specify that the sheriff’s office was investigating the death.

The WVTM report was then shared by 1819 News, a website once owned by the Alabama Policy Institute.

“We are investigating the specific circumstance surrounding his death,” Jones told AL.com. “It kind of got spilled over to the story that was published by 1819.”

There is no investigation into Copeland’s online posts, the sheriff said.

Jones said he spoke to Copeland Wednesday, the day 1819 News shared online posts from Copeland, a pastor in Phenix City, in women’s clothes. Jones declined to share the specifics of…