A South Georgia mayor has been suspended by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, according to an executive order signed by the governor Thursday.
Nashville Mayor Taylor Scarbrough was indicted on two counts of thefts after he was arrested last year and accused of taking a land excavator. Scarbrough, 56, faces one count each of theft by conversion and theft by deception, District Attorney Dick Perryman announced last month. Kemp appointed a review commission on March 3 to “determine whether the indictment relates to and adversely affects the administration of the office of Mayor of the City of Nashville such that the rights and interests of the public are adversely affected,” according to the order.
The committee was tasked with coming to decision in two weeks. According to Thursday’s executive order, on March 16, the commission “found that the indictment of Taylor Scarbrough does relate to and does adversely affect the administration of the office of Mayor and that the rights and interests of the public are adversely affected thereby; and recommended that Taylor Scarbrough be suspended from office.”
Though Scarborough was indicted in February, he remained in office until Kemp’s order Thursday.
According to a previous AJC report, he was accused by one of his employees, James Hobbs, of damaging an excavator in August of 2020. An employee had found equipment with “significant damage” which amounted to $12,000. Parts of the equipment were heavily dented, reports said.
Scarbrough later admitted damaging the machine but said Hobbs didn’t give him enough time to file a claim through his homeowners insurance to pay for the damage, according to The Associated Press.
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