A former DeKalb County Watershed Department employee pleaded guilty Monday to collecting overtime pay for hours he didn’t work, and he was sentenced to serve two years in prison.
Andre Cofer, a former crew supervisor, is the fourth Watershed Department employee who has accepted a plea agreement for participating in a scheme that bilked taxpayers out of thousands of dollars.
Cofer, who was immediately taken into custody after admitting to a theft charge, must pay $5,000 in restitution and complete 100 hours of community service.
DeKalb District Attorney Robert James said Cofer deliberately misrepresented his working hours throughout 2011.
"Today's sentence should send a resounding message that public corruption will not be tolerated in this county," James said in a statement.
The District Attorney’s Office investigation found that Cynthia Hall, a payroll technician in the Watershed Department, manipulated the county’s timekeeping system by directing large amounts of overtime pay to Cofer and several other employees, said spokesman Erik Burton. Hall then received biweekly kickbacks worth between $700 and $3,000.
Hall, Jarvis Foster and Anthony Lee pleaded guilty earlier this year. Hall and Foster were sentenced to serve two years in custody, and Lee was sentenced to one year.
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