A Superior Court jury acquitted a former DeKalb sheriff's employee Thursday of racketeering, fraud and forgery in a trial that accused her of conspiring with two confederates to defraud two counties of $410,000.
Dorcas Jernigan, who oversaw bail bond refunds at the sheriff's office, was accused of 81 criminal charges involving theft, bribery, forgery, racketeering and false swearing from November 2007 to July 2008, said her attorney Keith Adams. It took the jury three hours to acquit her, Adams said.
The jury convicted her co-defendant Nathan Jones. Jones and Shandarrick Barnes of using their company Refund Solutions to fraudulently get bonds that had been posted by other people. The scam was uncovered when the legitimate bond poster tried to retrieve his $38,000 and found it had gone to Refund Solutions through the use of forged signature and false driver's license, Adams said.
Barnes pleaded guilty earlier to defrauding the DeKalb sheriff's office and the Cobb County Superior Court clerk and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Jones is scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 26.
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