The Hall County Solicitor General resigned from her post earlier this month as part of a plea deal after being indicted by the Attorney General’s Office in June.
Solicitor Stephanie Woodard plead guilty to a charge of unprofessional conduct Friday and was sentenced under the first offender act to 12 months probation as part of her involvement in unlawfully acquiring funds from Hall County and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia to cover personal and unrelated expenses.
According to the AG’s office, Woodard is required to pay $1,190.48 in restitution to the Attorney’s Council and $1,028.80 to Hall County. As part of her plea deal, Woodard agreed to resign her post.
“Mrs. Woodard took advantage of our state by violating the same laws that she was elected to uphold,” Attorney General Chris Carr said in a release. “She has now been held accountable for her actions.”
Woodard was originally indicted on 24 counts, 13 for false statements and writings and 11 for theft by taking, for allegedly making false statements to the county and Attorney’s Council in order to profit herself of more than $4,000.
Among her alleged crimes, Woodard got reimbursed for travel expenses she had already submitted or had never actually taken. She is also accused of using her county issued credit card to buy items she claimed to be for victims but kept herself.
She is also accused of submitting a reimbursement request to cremate a dog involved in an old case but instead kept the money.
The alleged crimes occurred from July 2018 to September 2022.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reached out to Woodard’s attorney for comment.
Credit: Hall County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Hall County Sheriff's Office
Woodard was appointed as Solicitor General by Gov. Sonny Perdue in 2008, having previously worked at the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office as Senior Assistant District Attorney. She also worked at the Carroll County District Attorney’s Office and DeKalb County Solicitor General’s Office.
She has been reelected four times, including winning reelection in 2022 after running unopposed. Woodard was booked into the Hall County Jail in June and released on a bond of her own recognizance night.
Woodard is the latest public official to be convicted and prosecuted by the AG’s office. Back in 2021, three district attorneys - Mark Jones, Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit; Donald Richard Donovan, Paulding County; Jackie Johnson, Glynn County - were indicted on felony charges. Jones was sentenced to five years in prison to serve one after taking a plea deal while jurors were deliberating, the AP reported.
Donovan took a plea deal and was sentenced to 12 months probation. Johnson is still being prosecuted, as her attorney Brian Steel, has been tied up with the YSL case in Atlanta.
Former Pickens County Chief Magistrate Judge William “Allen” Wigington was convicted in 2021 on 44 felonies and 5 misdemeanors and sentenced to 15 years in prison, to serve five in custody with the remaining on probation.
In 2022, Douglas County officials were all indicted by the AG’s office relating to a contract awarded for professional janitorial services for the county’s annex building.
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