A Habersham County employee has been arrested and charged with stealing money from the County Probate Court office. Sheriff Joey Terrell says county maintenance crew worker Drew Whitlock was arrested after video surveillance captured him stealing money from the office’s petty cash drawer. He says it happened on a Saturday when the office was closed. On that day, records show Whitlock entered the county courthouse with his key card.
“On the video you can see someone crawling along the bottom below a window. You can see a shadow. You can see someone fumbling, a gray colored elbow come up and get in the drawer and then, shortly, he left the building.”
Terrell says fifty dollars was stolen from the drawer. It was reported to law enforcement by probate court authorities.
Terrell says the video and key card were circumstantial evidence but investigators also had a report that Whitlock was a suspect in a burglary at a home where prescription pills were stolen. He was brought in for questioning and Terrell says he confessed to both crimes.
Investigators are now trying to determine if there were other thefts from other departments in county offices where Whitlock worked. Whitlock reportedly previously worked for the City of Demorest.
He’s charged with theft by taking and burglary.
Whitlock remains in jail and he’s out of a job. Terrell says termination papers are being processed by Habersham County Manager Phil Sutton.
