Demorest has concluded its internal investigation into the disappearance of more than a half million dollars from city hall. Mayor Rick Austin made the announcement Tuesday night after council emerged from executive session following its regular monthly meeting:
“We have reached a stage where we have directed Mike Eason to prepare a final report to be given to the Mayor and Council and GBI and District Attorney. Mr. Eason has interviewed approximately 25 individuals including 17 city officials and employees, some of whom multiple times, during this investigation.
We have confirmed over 471 individual batches of money stolen totaling approximately $600,000. This investigation has largely ruled out computer errors or external thefts. The investigation indicates that the person or persons responsible had a strong knowledge of the financial processes of the city.”
We look forward to the final investigative report within a very short period of time. We will release this report in its entirety at that time unless directed to redact certain information by either the GBI or the District Attorney.
A final report is expected within 7-14 days. Once the report is complete it will be given to Habersham County District Attorney Brian Rickman and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to determine whether to press and pursue charges against those implicated in the crime.
Relief in sight
It’s been a long two years. Money was first reported missing from Demorest City Hall in January 2013. The case was initially investigated by Demorest Police then the GBI. Both investigations went nowhere. Demorest City Council took matters into their own hands last September when they fired the city’s bookkeeper. In October they hired former GBI agent turned private investigator, Mike Eason. Within a month Eason had issued a scathing report about alleged financial mismanagement by then City Manager, Clerk and Treasurer Juanita Crumley. The Demorest City Council demoted Crumley on the heels of that report and in January of this year she resigned.
Austin says it’s been a long, arduous, frustrating process but he’s relieved that the end is in sight. “I don’t think that the role of the city is to do this type of investigation but I will say that the role of the city is to represent its constituents to the best of our ability and, given that we weren’t making much headway (with previous investigations), we felt it our duty to move forward with an investigation so that we could find some closure to the $600,000 that is missing from the city.” He adds, “I wish it had come to a more rapid conclusion but we have worked very, very hard and pushed very hard and, frankly, I’ve made a few folks mad along the way as I pushed and this council has pushed. I’m pleased where we’re going.”
Following the money trail
While we may soon know Eason’s determination as to who took the money, the question of recovering it is another matter. Audits revealed $601,867 disappeared between 2009-2013. To date, none of that money has been recovered. Demorest struggled in recent months to find $80,000 in its budget to fund full-time fire service for the city. The irony of that was not lost on those who’ve kept a close eye on the investigation given that $80,000 is a small pittance compared to the amount of money missing from city coffers.
If you follow the money trail in the years it went missing it’s obvious whoever took it grew more brazen with time. The amounts steadily increased year to year until the theft stopped altogether in May of 2013. What changed? A city employee reported $5,000 missing from a cash drawer in Demorest City Hall in January 2013. Police were called in to investigate, city finances came under scrutiny and the theft stopped. No more money was taken after May 17, 2013.
Money stolen by year
2009 – $64,103.84
2010 – $87,027.78
2011 – $174,521.50
2012 – $222,553.37
2013 – $53,661.21
For a complete timeline of events see Crumley resigns; FBI may join Demorest probe
A final word before the final report
The vacuum left by two years of unresolved questions has been filled with much speculation. Now that a final investigative report is within sight many are hoping it will provide the answers they’ve long been seeking. Still, it will be left up to the GBI and DA on how to handle the case once it’s turned over to them. Mayor Austin says he hopes they will diligently pursue the matter and that justice is served on behalf of the residents of Demorest whose money was stolen. To those residents Austin says, “Thank you for your patience. Thank you for trusting us with going through this process. Our citizens deserve much more and it should have been done faster but, I promise you, we couldn’t have gotten it done any faster. When others decided that they weren’t going to push the ball down the field we decided that we were going to push the ball down the field for them because our residents deserve that.”
