GBI finds employment of Bishop’s kin was legal

COLUMBUS — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says it finds nothing illegal in the Muscogee County Marshal’s Office employment of U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop’s stepdaughter.

Records show Aayesha Owens Reese worked for the junior marshal program and was paid $7,575 between Oct. 3, 2008 and Feb. 20, 200

9. Reese is the daughter of Columbus Municipal Court Clerk Vivian Creighton Bishop, the congressman’s wife. She works full time for the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.

Reese’s husband at the time, Stephen Reese, also worked in the program. The GBI says it found no illegality his his employment either.

The program, started by Marshal Greg Countryman in 2005 as an outreach to at-risk children, is funded in part by a $118,000 federal appropriation Bishop helped secure in 2008. Countryman initiated the investigation.

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Information from: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, http://www.ledger-enquirer.com