The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday refused to dismiss whistle-blower lawsuits filed by two women who contend they were retaliated against after they uncovered fraud in Fulton County government.
The suits were filed by former Deputy County Manager Gwendolyn Warren and Maria Colon, who investigated complaints of fraud, waste and abuse in county government — including one investigation that led to a criminal conviction. The state high court backed rulings by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter, who said the women’s cases should proceed toward trial.
The women’s attorney, Lee Parks, said he will soon request that high-ranking county officials and commissioners give testimony in the pretrial phase of litigation known as discovery.
“This should be very illuminating,” Parks said. “This case is going to uncover wrongdoing at the highest levels of Fulton County government.”
In a statement, county attorney David Ware said the job actions taken against the “two disgruntled employees” were justified and even though they call themselves whistle-blowers, “they are not.”
Ware also said allegations that wrongdoing reached the highest levels of government were “reckless” and said he would advise his clients to avail themselves of all legal remedies “should they be defamed or if their personal and professional reputations are harmed.”
In 2009, Colon was hired as chief investigator for the newly established Office of Professional Standards. According to court filings, she quickly received numerous complaints of fraud and abuse.
Colon found that four employees had diverted more than $180,000 to finance a private wedding planning business called Exquisite Events Atlanta LLC. Wal-Mart gift cards charged to the county were used to buy furniture, appliances, video games and champagne flutes. False invoices were created and appeared to document the purchase of supplies for county-operated homeless shelters, according to court filings.
Warren reported Colon’s findings to then-County Manager Zachary Williams and urged the matter be referred to law enforcement authorities. But in July 2010, the county fired Warren and dissolved the Office of Professional Standards. Colon was demoted to the position of research analyst and given a pay cut.
Both women filed retaliation suits and alleged that Williams, under pressure from some county commissioners, ordered them to hold off handing over evidence of the theft to the district attorney’s office. Williams has denied that accusation and said the firing and demotion of, respectively, Warren and Colon were for other reasons he could not disclose.
Parks has said he later turned over Colon’s findings to prosecutors after the women retained him to represent them. But Ware said the county alerted the theft of funds to the district attorney’s office and any suggestion otherwise “is disingenuous.”
In August, Nicola Hosier, a former financial systems supervisor in the county’s Human Services Department, pleaded guilty to the scheme to divert taxpayer funds for Exquisite Events. Fulton prosecutors recommended that Hosier receive a five-year prison term. Instead, a judge sentenced her to two years of home confinement and ordered her to pay $136,000 in restitution. No others were charged in the case.
Warren and Colon uncovered other fraudulent activity, the details of which should be made public as the lawsuit progresses, Parks said Monday. One allegation involves a former county Department of Human Services official accused of using his position to solicit sexual favors from prospective employees; another is an alleged kickback scheme inside the county’s Department of Information Technology, Parks said.
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