Sheriff Kemuel A. Kem Kimbrough Sr.

Transcription

1 Clayton County Sheriff s Office Sheriff Kemuel A. Kem Kimbrough Sr Tara Boulevard, Jonesboro, Georgia Telephone No. (770) Internet: In February 2011, Sheriff Kimbrough formed a special investigative task force for the purpose of collecting factual information on the alleged criminal misconduct of former Sheriff Victor K. Hill and others, during his term in office which ended December 31, The findings of this task force are to be submitted to the District Attorney and Grand Jury for further review. During his four year term of office, many allegations of criminal misconduct by Sheriff Hill and other members of his department were made. There has not previously been a formal and detailed investigation into these allegations. Therefore, this task force will be performing a detailed and comprehensive review of all information currently available in an attempt to either confirm or refute allegations of misconduct by Sheriff Hill and others. It is anticipated a large number of interviews will be conducted in the course of this investigation. Large volumes of banking records will also be requested as there are some months of banking records which are missing from the archives of the Sheriff s Office. After an initial review of the financial records of the Sheriff s Office which were present when Sheriff Kimbrough took office in January of 2009, significant discrepancies from normal and best practice accounting procedures were found in the banking records from Sheriff Hill s administration. This initial review began on Friday, February 25, What follows is a summary of some of these discrepancies which require further investigation. Civil, Tel Warrants, Transports, Investigations, Tel , Fax Jail Information, Tel , Fax Court Services, Tel , Fax Records, Accounting, Training, Recruitment, Tel , Fax

2 Page 2 of 7 A review of statements and cancelled checks revealed at least twenty seven (27) separate bank accounts at five (5) different bank chains were used during Hill s administration. There are references to debit or VISA cards which were linked to some of these accounts which were reported to have been used by Hill to make personal and other prohibited purchases with public funds. Funds were repeatedly moved between these accounts for unknown reasons. Public funds under the control of the Sheriff were used to make purchases which are not allowable under Georgia statutes. This initial review shows the Sheriff s Office was using the General Fund Account, Inmate Trust Account, and other accounts to buy office furniture, custom framed prints and other items for the benefit of the Sheriff and certain employees. Public funds from accounts were moved around and improperly comingled with other funds. Funds which by law were to be turned over to the county treasury were withheld and spent on operational expenses or other items. A statement dated May 31, 2008 from SunTrust Bank, Safekeeping Department, documents that in April and May of 2008 $5,400, in long term securities were purchased by Community Capital Bank and pledged to the Clayton County Sheriff s Office. In the fall of 2007, Sheriff Hill moved the bulk of the department s banking business to Community Capital Bank. There is no indication on the statement these funds are pledged on behalf of another party. The source of funding and purpose of this purchase of long term securities is unknown. Similar securities were pledged by a bonding company through SunTrust Bank. The securities pledges on behalf of the bonding company also bore the name of the bonding company. The $5,400, transaction does not and appears to indicate the funds are being held solely on the behalf of the Sheriff s Office. This security account also had lost value from the initial investment. This investment was in the form of a security and the initial face value of the investment is indicated as $5,400, The value of those investments was $4,167, as of May 31, The investment had lost $1,232, If this account was opened using public funds under the control of the Sheriff, such as cash in lieu bonds, it was to be maintained in an interest bearing account under Georgia statutes as the principal value must be available to offset outstanding obligations. If public funds were invested in this manner it would be a serious violation of the law.

3 Page 3 of 7 Checks from one account for hundreds or thousands of dollars would be made out to CCSO with no clear purpose for the funds. This practice was occurring with more than one account containing public funds. It is unknown if these checks were cashed against currency on hand in the various public fund accounts under the control of the Sheriff, or if these funds were deposited to other accounts and distributed by other means. This practice appears to have been occurring weekly. There are several such payments made to CCSO for $30,000.00, $60, and other similar amounts. Checks to vendors for services were issued in the summer of 2008 for services which were known to have occurred in the winter of It is unknown at this time if there was some legitimate reason to withhold payment for 3 ½ years or if these payments are documented as payments for vendors as part of a scheme to divert the funds elsewhere. Allegations were made that Sheriff Hill used public funds under his control to purchase and stock vending machines. The profits from these machines were used to fund items where public funds could not be used. Initially, these machines were very profitable, but eventually these profits ceased and there is a possibility of employee theft of funds and products from the vending machine project. Sheriff Hill entered into some form of an agreement with the City of Morrow, under which the City would maintain and keep forfeiture funds in a city account. It has been alleged, forfeited funds and funds pending forfeiture were comingled in this account. It has also been alleged funds pending forfeiture were distributed by the City of Morrow to Sheriff Hill and the funds were spent. In an earlier attempt to conduct an investigation into these practices, the City of Morrow was less than helpful in providing information or documentation of these transactions. It will be necessary to obtain these records directly from the financial institution(s) in question. The title to a Sheriff s Department vehicle was pawned at a local title pawn business. This vehicle had been purchased with public funds and it is unknown what was done with the

4 Page 4 of 7 funds received from the pawning of the vehicle title. At one point the title pawn business attempted to seize this vehicle due to non-payment of the monthly payments on this title loan. It has been reported falsified records were used by the Sheriff or other employees as part of a scheme to pay back funds to commercial bonding companies after the funds had been forfeited to the State by the courts. A series of public service billboards and mailings were purchased by Sheriff Hill. The same companies who provided these public service media items also appear to have provided similar products for Hill s 2008 re-election campaign. Checks to these companies were issued out of Sheriff s Office accounts and with the information currently available it cannot be determined if public funds were used to pay for these re-election advertisements. Additionally Sheriff Hill used automated robo-calls to encourage citizens to vote for Hill s re-election. Similar payments have been identified in Sheriff s Office accounts to a company who provides this type of service. Allegations have been made that Sheriff Hill used a VISA card linked to Sheriff s accounts containing public funds to pay for a personal trip to Las Vegas. In a February, 2009 Bankruptcy Court order, it was revealed Hill had secreted $25,000 in an undisclosed investment account. News reports quoted Hill s attorney as saying Hill said he has been trying to make money through an online stock-trading company that he incorporated in Las Vegas. That s why he placed $25,000 in a Charles Schwab account, he said. However, he has made no money and owns no stocks, he said. Previously it had been researched if there were any law enforcement related conferences in Las Vegas during the time period in question. No law enforcement related conferences were identified. Further investigation is needed to determine if the true purpose of this trip was to establish the personal stock trading corporation. During Hill s term as Sheriff, several other trips to foreign countries were reported to have taken place and were reportedly paid for out of public funds. It is currently unknown if there was any valid law enforcement related purpose for those trips or if they were personal in nature.

5 Page 5 of 7 It has been reported that Sheriff Hill had instructed employees to destroy or shred documents prior to the end of his administration. There are several months of bank statements which are missing from the Sheriff s record. Printed copies of the bank statement data for these missing months have been obtained, but these copies lack the actual photo image of the face of the check which indicates to whom the check was issued. In light of the allegations of financial misconduct by Hill and members of his administration, missing financial records is especially troubling. Duplicate copies which include the missing check images will need to be reviewed. Sheriff s Office employees were seen and documented actively campaigning for Sheriff Hill s re-election. On several occasions, photographs of these employees campaigning during their assigned duty hours were taken. It has been reported supervisors of these employees were directed to falsify payroll records to show the employees as having been at work at the Sheriff s Office on these days. A detailed review of payroll and shift duty reports and interviews of supervisors will confirm or refute if these employees were being paid from public funds to campaign for Sheriff Hill instead of performing their duties as public employees. Interviews are expected to show who ordered the falsification of employee payroll records. It has been reported at least one female employee was ordered to be shown as working on payroll records while she was actually traveling with Sheriff Hill on out of state trips. It was further reported these trips were not for county business and were paid for out of public or forfeited funds. A detailed review of VISA and other credit or debit cards issued to the department and interviews of the relevant employee s supervisors will refute or confirm these allegations. In November 2008, Jonathan Newton, who was Sheriff Hill s Public Information Officer submitted a letter to Governor Purdue, Attorney General Baker, Clayton County Chief of Police Turner, and Clayton County Commission Chairman Bell. In this letter Newton described how he was hired by Hill as the public information officer for the Sheriff s Office and given orders to write Sheriff Hill s autobiography while on duty. Newton further describes how John Gibson, who came in as Chief Deputy, ordered him to work on Sheriff Hill s re-election campaign in Newton further states John Gibson ordered him to find and publish negative information

6 Page 6 of 7 on Hill s competitors during the election. Newton also states Gibson ordered him to find employees to volunteer to man the polls holding re-election signs for Hill. It appears these volunteers were some of the employees paid to campaign while on duty. Newton states that on August 5, 2008, after Sheriff Hill lost the runoff election, Hill told him he was going to leave town with two Sheriff s Office Employees, Naomi Nash and Beatrice Powell. Hill gave orders for Powell to be placed on administrative leave (with pay). Newton states Hill went to South Carolina and Florida in a county vehicle and described this trip as being personal in nature to include gambling. When Hill returned to Clayton County in October 2008, Newton states he was ordered to complete Hill s autobiography prior to the end of Hill s term in office. Newton describes being ordered to work on the autobiography at Hill s residence while being paid as though he was at work within the Sheriff s Office. Newton later delivered a laptop computer to the Clayton County Police Department volunteering the computer as evidence of the misdeeds of Sheriff Hill and other members of his administration. This computer incident was documented under Clayton County Police Department case number The hard drive and information contained on this computer have not been analyzed. This computer is now in the custody of the Sheriff s Office. Employees of the Clayton County Police Department documented and photographed groups of Sheriff s employees actively campaigning for Sheriff Hill s re-election. On some occasions, employees were in uniform while campaigning in front of polling places. It is believed a review of the payroll records will shows these employees were paid from public funds as though they were performing their normal duties at the Sheriff s Office. At least fifteen (15) Sheriff s Office employees have been implicated in being shown as working at the Sheriff s Office as employees while they were actually performing personal or other non-duty related functions. Their supervisors were instructed to falsify payroll records to

7 Page 7 of 7 reflect these persons as having been at work at the Sheriff s Office. This appears to have been a common and ongoing practice throughout the four year term of Sheriff Hill. Based on this small sampling of discrepancies in the handling of public funds, allegations of conversion of public assets for personal use and falsification or destruction of government records during Sheriff Hill s administration, a detailed and comprehensive investigation is clearly warranted. It is anticipated a thorough and sifting investigation will likely produce evidence of serious criminal misconduct by Sheriff Hill and other key members of his administration. This initial review also tends to implicate at least one financial institution and members of a local city government as willing co-conspirators who knowingly aided in Hill s unlawful conduct.