(Editor’s note: The following is an article published in the Georgia Times Union on Saturday, July 21 and was written by Terry Dickson)
The former mayor and police chief of Graham have been indicted on felony theft charges in the use of a city credit card.
Former mayor and chief indicted
An indictment returned by a Jeff Davis grand jury accuses former Mayor Lonnie Crosby and former police chief Jarone Brinkley of theft by taking in the use of a city Visa card to obtain cash on two occasions.
On Nov. 20, 2008, the card was used to obtain $2,039.80 cash and six days later it was used to obtain $1,427.86 in cash, the indictment says.
The indictment was unsealed late Thursday.
Although Graham is in Appling County, a Jeff Davis grand jury acted on the indictment because that is where the card was presented and the cash obtained, District Attorney Jackie Johnson said.
Under Georgia law, any theft of $500 or more is a felony.
Crosby’s telephone is not in service.
Brinkley runs Jarone’s Body Shop on the western edge of Graham. A woman who answered the phone there Friday said he was gone and would not be back until Monday. She declined to provide a number where Brinkley could be reached.
The Graham City Council held a hearing on Crosby’s conduct in January and voted to remove him from office, but as mayor he vetoed the action. The city attorney told Crosby he didn’t have the authority to veto his own removal, but the council repeated the process in February and voted him out again.
Crosby later went to City Hall, said, “I quit,” and handed over his keys. But he later filed a Superior Court petition to get back into City Hall where the locks had been changed and resume his duties.
After a hearing before Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett, in which Crosby said he couldn’t remember whether he had used a city credit card for personal gain, he withdrew his petition.
In April during an investigation of Graham’s finances, a fire started in the City Hall records room where all financial records are kept. The building was rebuilt and the city reoccupied it two weeks ago.
“We’re literally having to start the city over,” Mayor Pro Tem John Fogarty said Friday.
There has been no audit of city finances since 2007 and a former mayor of Hazlehurst is schooling the City Council on how to set up a proper budget, Fogarty said.
Fogarty said the city is ensuring that all payments go to the proper places. In the past, cash payments for water bills were kept in a drawer and never deposited, he said. “They only deposited checks,’’ he said.
Crosby also took $24,500 from an account dedicated to repaying a U.S. Department of Agriculture loan that was used to build the water system. Crosby used that money to pay the state for the right to issue traffic citations and hold traffic court, Fogarty said.
He accused Crosby of breaking the city.
“No grant money for 10 years, no roads paved, nothing,’’ he said.
On Nov. 20, 2008, the card was used to obtain $2,039.80 cash and six days later it was used to obtain $1,427.86 in cash, the indictment says.
The indictment was unsealed late Thursday.
Although Graham is in Appling County, a Jeff Davis grand jury acted on the indictment because that is where the card was presented and the cash obtained, District Attorney Jackie Johnson said.
Under Georgia law, any theft of $500 or more is a felony.
Crosby’s telephone is not in service.
Brinkley runs Jarone’s Body Shop on the western edge of Graham. A woman who answered the phone there Friday said he was gone and would not be back until Monday. She declined to provide a number where Brinkley could be reached.
The Graham City Council held a hearing on Crosby’s conduct in January and voted to remove him from office, but as mayor he vetoed the action. The city attorney told Crosby he didn’t have the authority to veto his own removal, but the council repeated the process in February and voted him out again.
Crosby later went to City Hall, said, “I quit,” and handed over his keys. But he later filed a Superior Court petition to get back into City Hall where the locks had been changed and resume his duties.
After a hearing before Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett, in which Crosby said he couldn’t remember whether he had used a city credit card for personal gain, he withdrew his petition.
In April during an investigation of Graham’s finances, a fire started in the City Hall records room where all financial records are kept. The building was rebuilt and the city reoccupied it two weeks ago.
“We’re literally having to start the city over,” Mayor Pro Tem John Fogarty said Friday.
There has been no audit of city finances since 2007 and a former mayor of Hazlehurst is schooling the City Council on how to set up a proper budget, Fogarty said.
Fogarty said the city is ensuring that all payments go to the proper places. In the past, cash payments for water bills were kept in a drawer and never deposited, he said. “They only deposited checks,’’ he said.
Crosby also took $24,500 from an account dedicated to repaying a U.S. Department of Agriculture loan that was used to build the water system. Crosby used that money to pay the state for the right to issue traffic citations and hold traffic court, Fogarty said.
He accused Crosby of breaking the city.
“No grant money for 10 years, no roads paved, nothing,’’ he said.
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