Atlanta police arrested a city worker Tuesday on charges of taking bribes to restore water service to residents who had been cut off, Channel 2 Action News reported.
A resident told Channel 2 that 50-year-old Jesse Pullins, a 12-year veteran of the watershed department, was allegedly taking bribes. The television station reported the “shake down” to the watershed department.
That led to a police investigation and to Pullins’ arrest, Channel 2 reported. Pullins, a senior inspector in the department,was booked into jail for abuse of governmental office for taking money to restore water service to cut-off customers, Channel 2 reported.
One cut-off resident, Marlene Hopkins, worked with police in the sting on Pullins, Channel 2 reported.
“I said ‘Mr. Pullins, how much you charge?’” Hopkins said. ” He said, ‘Just give me 40 dollars.’”
Watershed officials told Channel 2 that they suspected Pullins was working with partners in the scheme.
“We’ll leave that up to APD to continue their investigation and if there are more, we will continue to work to prosecute this,” waters department spokesperson Lilian Govus said.
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