A routine audit of charges to state-issued credit cards turned up a purchase for sandals. That purchase eventually led to a former top official with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation pleading guilty Monday to racketeering and violating the oath of a public officer.
While both charges carry prison sentences — one for as much as 20 years — Sandra Putnam won’t face jail time and will get to keep her state pension.
DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Clarence Seeliger said Putnam’s two-plus decades of “honorable service”in law enforcement offset the harm of charging the GBI more than $60,000 for items including a leather sofa, furniture to go beside her pool, clothes and gifts for her then-boyfriend and now-husband (a former Sandy Springs Police captain).
"I plead guilty," Putnam said tearfully.
Seeliger sentenced her to 10 years on probation, which will be terminated once Putnam has completed 200 hours of community service and has repaid the $60,268.04 she charged on a state credit card from May 2013 until August 2016. Seeliger’s sentencing allows Putnam to retain her full retirement benefits from the state, and her law enforcement certification will not be automatically revoked.
“I’m not exactly sure why you got caught up in this scheme,” Seeliger told her. “I do wish you luck.”
Putnam’s attorney, Mario Ninfo, said her family had already raised about $40,000 that would paid within the next 30 days and the rest would be paid fairly quickly. The GBI has all the items she bought, and she was still going to pay back all that it cost the agency in grant money and taxpayer dollars, Ninfo said.
With the GBI since 1994, Putnam had been a forensic auditor, an assistant supervisor over the high-technology investigations and had overseen a child exploitation unit. She was an inspector over several units at the GBI in August 2016 when the personal charges were discovered and she was fired from her $101,000-a-year job.
The judge’s punishment was less severe than Assistant Attorney General Blair McGowan and even Putnam’s attorney requested.
McGowan had asked Putnam be sentenced to eight years in prison followed by 12 years on probation.
Ninfo asked for a six-year probation sentence. He also asked that Putnam serve her first 30 days in the DeKalb County jail, and the first two years on home confinement so she could care for her sons, ages 11 and 13.
“There are no victims in this case,” Ninfo said. “We’re talking about a mother who needs to be home with her children. She’s paid her debt…. Because of all this, she’s doing minimum wage (work). It was a kleptomania situation. We cannot put this mother in jail.”
McGowan responded.
“The victim in this case is the public trust,” McGowan said.
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At one point, McGowan said, the GBI had to use taxpayer dollars to cover costs of a program that was funded by a grant because Putnam’s charges had drained the fund of the grant money.
“She used a P-card as a slush fund,” McGowan said.
McGowan said Putnam’s practice was to change the descriptions of the items she bought when she submitted the paperwork to support the charges. She also often changed details about where the items were shipped, claiming they were delivered to the GBI offices in Decatur when they were actually sent to her home.
Putnam's personal purchases from Amazon.com were made to look like GBI expenses:
— $930 for a leather sectional sofa that she reported as anti-virus software
— $47.95 for a cat tower that she said was for waterproof bags
— $136.99 for a UGA golf bag for her then-boyfriend that she noted as shoes worn by GBI agents
— $838.81 on a Microsoft Surface Pro with a keyboard and other accessories for her now-step-daughter
— $399.99 for outdoor chaise lounges to go beside her pool that she claimed was an iPad; the cushions she ordered were reported as a digital camera.
The agency had to use a tractor-trailer to carry away all the items found at Putnam’s house.
“I was mortified,” said GBI Director Vernon Keenan. “She betrayed the trust of the GBI and the citizens of Georgia I’m thankful that this incident is closed. It’s been very traumatic for the agency because she was well-respected within the GBI.”
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