Case 4:15-cr-00086-WTM-GER Document 1 Filed 05/18/15 Page 1 of 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA SAVANNAH DIVISION UNITED STATES OF AMERICA INDICTMENT NO. 14P'( ti -I Ali 0W. 18 15 V. KIM H. BIRGE VIO: 18 U.S.C. 13 ERsi. Mail Fraud Counts 1 4 R 4 i 5-0 86 18 U.S.C. 666(a)(1)(A) Federal Program Fraud Count 5 INTRODUCTION At all times material to this indictment: 1. Defendant Kim H. Birge was employed as the Chief Clerk of the Probate Court of Chatham County, Georgia, and as such was an agent of a local government. 2. The Chatham County Probate Court had original jurisdiction in the probate of wills; the issuance of marriage licenses and licenses to carry firearms; and the appointment of legal guardians for certain individuals, including minors. Money collected by the Chatham County Probate Court for these services was deposited into bank accounts in the name of the Probate Court, 3. In her role as Chief Clerk, Kim H. Birge was authorized to conduct transactions in at least two Probate Court bank accounts. Birge was not authorized to conduct transactions in the Probate Court bank accounts for the benefit of herself or her family.
Case 4:15-cr-00086-WTM-GER Document 1 Filed 05/18/15 Page 2 of 7 4. Without authorization, and with intent to defraud, Defendant Kim H. Birge, used the mails to embezzle, steal, misappropriate, and unlawfully convert more than $700,000.00 from the Chatham County Probate Court. COUNTS ONE THROUGH FOUR Mail Fraud 18 U.S.C. 1341 The Scheme to Defraud and Obtain Money 5. Beginning no later than January 2011 and continuing to in or about November 2014, in the Southern District of Georgia, KIM H. BIRGE devised and intended to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud and to obtain money and property by means of materially false pretenses, representations, and promises, and by acts of concealment of the scheme, and in furtherance thereof used the United States mails and private commercial carriers. 6. It was part of the scheme to defraud and obtain money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises that Kim H. Birge: a. would sign court orders and letters directing insurance companies, private businesses, public employers, banks, and other entities to send funds to the Probate Court of Chatham County for the benefit of minors and other individuals who had conservatorships established in Chatham County, Georgia. b. would deposit funds sent to the Probate Court for Chatham County, Georgia, and intended for the benefit of minors and other individuals who
Case 4:15-cr-00086-WTM-GER Document 1 Filed 05/18/15 Page 3 of 7 had conservatorships established in Chatham County, Georgia, into one of two bank accounts maintained by the Probate Court. c. would deposit fees paid to the Probate Court of Chatham County into one of the two bank accounts maintained by the Probate Court. d. would write checks payable to cash on each of the two bank accounts maintained by the Probate Court and would make representations that the money would be used for Probate Court matters. e. would forge the signatures of conservators and/or their attorneys to create false documentation of disbursement and expenditures from conservatorships. f. would use the cash from the negotiated checks for her personal benefit. g. would fail to disclose to others associated with the Probate Court that she was embezzling, stealing, misappropriating, and unlawfully converting money in the care, custody, and control of the Probate Court for her personal benefit. The Mailings 7. On or about the dates listed below for each count, in the Southern District of Georgia and elsewhere, KIM H. BIRGE, for the purpose of executing the above-described scheme to defraud and to obtain money by false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, and attempting to do so, knowingly did cause to be delivered by the Postal Service and private interstate carrier according to the direction thereon the following: 3
Case 4:15-cr-00086-WTM-GER Document 1 Filed 05/18/15 Page 4 of 7 Count Date Mail Communication Between 4/27/2011 A mailing from Cahaba Government Benefit and 5/2/2011 Administrators, LLC, located in Birmingham, Uabama, to the Probate Court of Chatham County Georgia, enclosing check numbers 41829, 41830, and 41831, totaling $17,332.80, payable to Probate Court and M.D.M., Conservator for M.B.D., which was payment for the conservatorship for M.B.D. 2 Between 8/11/2011 A mailing from State of Alabama, Department and 8/15/2011 of Finance, located in Montgomery, Alabama, to the Probate Court of Chatham County Georgia, enclosing check number 13999168, totaling $27,363.07, payable to Probate Court of Chatham County, GA, for the benefit of T.H., which was payment for the conservatorship for T.H. 3 Between 9/21/2011 A mailing from USAble Life, located in Little and 10/18/2011 Rock, Arkansas, to the Probate Court of Chatham County Georgia, enclosing check numbers 836 and 837, totaling $232,000.00, payable to Probate Court of Chatham County, GA, and M.D.M., as Conservators for M.B.D., which was payment for the conservatorship for M.B.D. 4 Between 7/15/2014 A mailing from Bank of America in San Antonio, and 8/412014 Texas, to M.R.D. in Savannah, Georgia, as conservator for J.A.R.-V., M.J.R.-V., and S.D.R.-V., enclosing check numbers 9551584622, 9551584664, and 9551584867 totaling $22,554.60. All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1341.
Case 4:15-cr-00086-WTM-GER Document 1 Filed 05/18/15 Page 5 of 7 THE GRAND JURY CHARGES: COUNT FIVE Federal Program Fraud 18 U.S.C. 666(a)(1)(A) Beginning no later than in or about January 2011 and continuing until in or about November 2014, in the Southern District of Georgia, KIM H. BIRGE, being an agent of Chatham County Probate Court, an agency of a local government, that is Chatham County, Georgia, said government receiving in the one year period beginning January 1, 2014, and ending December 31, 2014, benefits in excess of $10,000 under a federal grant, embezzled, stole, obtained by fraud, and without authority knowingly converted to the use of a person not the rightful owner, property worth at least $5,000 and owned by, or under the care, custody, and control of such government, that is, United States currency totaling approximately $767,218.99. In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 666(a)(1)(A). FORFEITURE ALLEGATION 1. The allegations contained in Counts One through Five of this Indictment are re-alleged and incorporated by reference as if fully set forth in support of this forfeiture. 2. Upon conviction of any the offenses in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1341 or 666 set forth this Indictment, the defendant, KIM H. BIRGE, shall forfeit to the United States of America, pursuant to Title 18, United States 5
Case 4:15-cr-00086-WTM-GER Document 1 Filed 05/18/15 Page 6 of 7 Code, Section 981(a)(1)(C) and Title 28, United States Code, Section 2461(c), any property, real or personal, which constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to the offense, including, but not limited to, a money judgment in the amount of at least $767,218.99, as proceeds of the violation. 3. If any of the property described above, as a result of any act or omission of the defendant: a. cannot be located upon the exercise of due diligence; b. has been transferred or sold to, or deposited with, a third party; C. has been placed beyond the jurisdiction of the court; d. has been substantially diminished in value; or e. has been commingled with other property which cannot be divided without difficulty, the United States shall be entitled to forfeiture of substitute property, and it is the intent of the United States, pursuant to Title 21, United States Code, Section 853(p), to seek forfeiture of any other property of Kim Birge, up to the value listed above as subject to forfeiture. All pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 981(a)(1)(C) and 28 U.S.C. 2461(c). Signatures on following page. n.
Case 4:15-cr-00086-WTM-GER Document 1 Filed 05/18/15 Page 7 of 7 A True Bill. Foreperson U Edward J. Tarver United States Attorney ames D. Durham First Assistant United States Attorney Brian T. Rafferty Assistant United States Attorney Chief, Criminal Division Scarlett S. Nokes * Assistant United States Attorney *Denotes Lead Counsel VA