Judge dismisses warrants for DeKalb commissioner

By Megan Matteucci

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A DeKalb County commissioner said she was unaware of four warrants issued a year ago for her arrest for writing bad checks.

Late Thursday afternoon, Gwinnett County Magistrate Court Judge Gene Cantrell recalled the warrants against DeKalb Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton.

The judge's action came after the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Sutton had four outstanding arrest warrants for deposit account fraud dating back to January 2008.

"I want the public to know had I known this was an issue, I would have taken care of it," Sutton told the AJC.

DeKalb police learned about the warrants for Sutton’s arrest on Wednesday night when she was involved in a crash on LaVista Road, according to a police report.

However, she was not arrested.

Sutton said she learned about the warrants Wednesday night and called her attorney, who contacted Costco about the outstanding checks.

At 3 p.m. Thursday, Maj. Mike Powell of the Gwinnett Sheriff's Office told the AJC the warrants were still pending and he didn't know why Sutton was still at-large. The charges stemmed from 2007 when Sutton wrote four bad checks -- each for $300 to $400 -- to Costco in Gwinnett, Powell said.

Around 5:30 p.m., Gwinnett sheriff's spokeswoman Stacy Bourbonnais said a magistrate judge had the warrants recalled, but she did not know why.

Sutton said she paid Costco the outstanding money late Thursday and her attorney had the warrants dropped.

"We paid them all the money that is due," Sutton said. "This is just very unfortunate and embarrassing. This is a reminder that we all need to pay very close attention to your banking transactions because this could happen to anyone."

Sutton said she learned about the warrants Wednesday night after her BMW struck an unoccupied Nissan parked at the Northlake Commons Business Park on LaVista Road.

The officer determined Sutton was at fault and ran her license and registration through the Georgia Crime Information Center. That’s where he found Sutton had outstanding warrants in Gwinnett, according to an internal DeKalb police memo obtained by the AJC.

The officer summoned his sergeant, who later called his lieutenant, and both confirmed the warrants, according to the memo.

The officer then released Sutton instead of taking her to jail, the normal procedure when a warrant is on file.

“Lt. [T.] Whittington advised that Ms. Sutton needed to go directly from the scene of the accident to Gwinnett Sheriff’s Office and get the matter resolved. I advised her of this information and she advised that she would immediately call her attorney and resolve this issue,” Sgt. S. Henry wrote in an internal memo.

Sutton said she didn't go to the sheriff's department Wednesday night and decided to call an attorney instead because she was so surprised about the warrants.

DeKalb officials said they are now investigating why she was not arrested.

“The incident is under review,” DeKalb Public Safety Director William “Wiz” Miller said.

He said he could not comment on whether the officer took appropriate action and refused to answer any other questions.

Other DeKalb County commissioners said they were unaware of the warrants and could not comment.

After the warrants were issued last year, the Gwinnett deputies contacted Sutton via mail. They then forwarded the information to DeKalb law enforcement, which is the normal procedure when a warrant is for a suspect outside Gwinnett, Powell said.

Court records show Sutton also had previous problems with bad checks. In 1996, she pleaded no contest in Gwinnett to writing bad checks to West Building Supply in Stone Mountain.

Sutton said the 1996 charges happened after she "accidentally" overdrew her account.

"There are times when errors happen," she said.

Sutton, of Stone Mountain, was elected in 2008 and serves on the commission's budget committee. She teaches business and career technology for DeKalb schools.