MOBILE, Ala. — A Mobile County circuit judge has stepped aside from the criminal case against Tobi Lynn Libbra, the Gulf Shores private investigator accused of impersonating a law enforcement officer. The Libbra recusal came after her defense asked the court to remove the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office from prosecuting her.
Circuit Judge Vicki Davis signed the recusal order Sunday, Sept. 27, sending Libbra’s pending motion to a newly assigned judge. The order does not rule on the request to disqualify the District Attorney’s Office. That question is now before the new judge, and a hearing date had not been set.
The judge’s withdrawal is the latest turn in an unusual case where a criminal prosecution and a civil lawsuit brought by the same office overlap. Libbra’s attorney argues the overlap is a conflict of interest that should bar the office from handling the criminal case.
The charges against Libbra
A Mobile County grand jury indicted Libbra in August on one count of impersonating a peace officer and one count of impersonating a public servant. She was arrested Monday, Aug. 24, after prosecutors obtained the indictment.
Prosecutors say Libbra identified herself as an investigator for the State of Alabama while interviewing a witness. That witness was connected to a civil fraud lawsuit the District Attorney’s Office filed against South Alabama Medical & Rehab, an injury clinic.
Libbra is a licensed private investigator. At the time of the October 2025 interview, she was working for a defendant in the clinic case. She has not been convicted of any crime and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
What the law requires the state to prove
Under Section 13A-10-11 of the Alabama Code, a person commits the crime of impersonating a peace officer if he or she falsely pretends to be a peace officer and does any act in that capacity. Alabama’s pattern jury instructions define a peace officer as any public servant who is vested by law with a duty to maintain public order or to make arrests for crime.
To win a conviction, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant falsely pretended to be a peace officer and acted in that capacity, along with the required mental state. The companion charge, impersonating a public servant, falls under a neighboring section of the same chapter of the criminal code.
The defense’s case for disqualifying prosecutors
Libbra’s attorney, John Beck, argues that the District Attorney’s Office has a conflict. The office is prosecuting Libbra and is also the plaintiff in the civil case against South Alabama Medical & Rehab, the case she was working on when she conducted the interview at the center of the criminal charges.
The interview was with witness Ebony Rono in October 2025. Beck says Libbra recorded it and repeatedly identified herself and her partner as private investigators hired by South Alabama Medical & Rehab. According to Beck, the recording captured Rono disputing parts of an affidavit the District Attorney’s Office used in its civil lawsuit.
Attorneys for the clinic played that recording in open court on July 17. Libbra was indicted the following month.
The grand jury subpoena
The new motion also focuses on a grand jury subpoena. Beck alleges prosecutors used the criminal case to pursue information tied to the civil litigation. He points to a later subpoena sent to Libbra’s employer seeking client, billing and communications records.
According to the motion, the District Attorney’s Office later withdrew that subpoena after questions arose about when the records would be presented to a grand jury.
What the defense is asking for
The motion asks the court to take one of several steps:
- Remove the entire Mobile County District Attorney’s Office from the case and appoint a disinterested prosecutor.
- Alternatively, disqualify Assistant District Attorneys Clay Rossi and Louis Walker from the prosecution.
- Or ask the Alabama Attorney General’s Office to take over the prosecution.
The District Attorney’s Office had not publicly responded to the allegations in the motion as of Tuesday.
Why a judge recuses
Recusal happens when a judge withdraws from a case, either on a party’s motion or on the judge’s own initiative. Alabama’s Canons of Judicial Ethics direct judges to disqualify themselves in proceedings where their impartiality might reasonably be questioned. Judges often recuse without giving a detailed public explanation.
Davis’ order did not state a reason for stepping aside. It only referred the pending motion to the new judge. The recusal is not a ruling on the merits of the defense’s arguments or on the charges.
How prosecutor disqualification works
Asking a court to remove an entire prosecutor’s office is uncommon. Courts generally give elected prosecutors wide latitude to decide which cases to bring and how to handle them. A defendant seeking disqualification usually has to show an actual conflict of interest or a situation where the prosecutor’s personal or institutional stake could compromise the fair administration of justice.
When an elected district attorney’s office is removed or steps aside from a case in Alabama, the prosecution is commonly handed to another district attorney or to the Alabama Attorney General’s Office. That is the kind of arrangement Beck’s motion proposes as an alternative. In an unrelated Baldwin County case covered by South Alabama News this month, the Attorney General’s Office is prosecuting a federal agent charged with sex crimes, an example of state-level prosecutors handling a local case.
Beck’s argument rests on the District Attorney’s Office’s dual role. It is both a civil litigant with a financial and legal interest in the clinic case and the prosecutor bringing criminal charges against an investigator who worked for the other side. The new judge will decide whether that dual role rises to the level of a disqualifying conflict.
The civil case behind the prosecution
The District Attorney’s civil lawsuit targets South Alabama Medical & Rehab over what the office describes as a “claim-jacking” operation. Prosecutors say it funneled crash reports into telemarketing, treatment and legal referrals.
The clinic, which has ties to Texas chiropractor Michael Kent Plambeck, closed before a preliminary injunction ordered it to cease operations. Plambeck and his companies were previously sued under federal racketeering law in Ohio in 2008 over a nearly identical operation and were found liable for millions of dollars.
Libbra’s interview with Rono took place while that civil case was underway. That timing is why the defense argues the criminal case cannot be separated from the civil one.
Who is Tobi Libbra?
Libbra is a Gulf Shores-based licensed private investigator. She runs 4:59 Consulting and is a partner with investigator Ketrick Kelley in his firm, ketWork Investigations. According to his online resume, Kelley is a retired FBI special agent and former Mobile police officer.
As South Alabama News reported earlier this month, court records from a federal lawsuit also identify Libbra as part of a private investigative team in a 2022 undercover operation targeting Fairhope officials. In a sworn affidavit, Fairhope Planning Commissioner Hollie MacKellar said Kelley and Libbra posed as an Atlanta couple looking for a home. She said they secretly recorded her and other officials during a dispute between the city and developer 68 Ventures.
Neither Kelley nor Libbra has been charged in connection with the Fairhope operation. MacKellar’s claims were filed as evidence by Fairhope’s attorneys and remain contested in that federal case. The Fairhope matter is separate from the Mobile County criminal charges.
Private investigators and the line they cannot cross
Private investigators in Alabama are licensed through the Alabama Private Investigation Board, which was created by state law in 2013 to regulate the profession. Licensed investigators routinely interview witnesses for attorneys, insurance companies and businesses involved in litigation. They can gather statements, review records and conduct surveillance within the law.
What they cannot do is present themselves as police officers or government agents. Witnesses often speak differently to someone they believe represents the state, and the law treats that kind of deception as a crime against public administration.
The central factual dispute in Libbra’s case is how she identified herself during the Rono interview. Prosecutors say she held herself out as a state investigator. The defense says the recording shows she repeatedly identified herself and her partner as private investigators hired by the clinic. That dispute will ultimately be resolved in court.
Case at a glance
- Defendant: Tobi Lynn Libbra, licensed private investigator from Gulf Shores
- Charges: Impersonating a peace officer; impersonating a public servant
- Indicted: August 2026, by a Mobile County grand jury; arrested Aug. 24
- Allegation: Identified herself as a State of Alabama investigator while interviewing a witness in October 2025
- Defense attorney: John Beck
- Prosecutors named in motion: Assistant District Attorneys Clay Rossi and Louis Walker
- Latest development: Circuit Judge Vicki Davis recused herself Sunday, Sept. 27; case referred to a new judge
- Pending: Defense motion to disqualify the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office
What happens next
The newly assigned judge will take up the defense motion to disqualify the District Attorney’s Office. No hearing date has been set. Until the court rules, the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office remains the prosecuting authority in the case.
If the court grants the motion in any form, the case could be reassigned to a different prosecutor or to the Attorney General’s Office. If the court denies it, the prosecution would proceed with the current team.
The civil lawsuit against South Alabama Medical & Rehab is moving forward separately. South Alabama News will continue to follow both cases.