Checks Are Forwarded to Crime Lab

The missing checks discovered last Tuesday underneath the Courthouse staircase have been released to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) for examination in their crime lab.

Investigator David Ledford of the Jasper County Sheriff Department said that there have not been any new discoveries in the investigation.

County administrator Phil Peevy said that the county commission office will cooperate 100 percent with the investigation. Mr. Peevy would neither confirm or deny whether any disciplinary action was taken with office personnel.

However appropriate action had been taken in accordance with the county’s personnel policy, he said.

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The county administrator also said that procedures have been modified for deposits in his office. Departments are to turn in their deposits earlier so that enough time is allowed for trips to the bank. He also said that the office has a safe where the money can be stored until taken to the bank.

Additionally, Mr. Peevy said that everyone who paid their bill had been credited.

Inquiries to three county departments including the landfill, planning & zoning and tax assessors office on Wednesday morning revealed that no changes or modifications in deposit procedures had been received from the county commission office since the discovery of the missing deposits.

Aside from not being notified of changes in procedures, landfill director Kenneth Tillman said that if he had not read the newspaper or heard it on the street, he would not have known his deposit was missing.

In other crime related news, Inv. Ledford said that Wendell Sheppard, former fugitive-at-large now in custody in Costa Rica, had not been released to Jasper County. It is not known when Mr. Sheppard will be released to the local law enforcement’s custody.