A special purpose grand jury report that detailed alleged corruption in DeKalb County continues to have fallout.
DeKalb police Assistant Chief Annette Williams was demoted last week to captain. The grand jury suggested Williams (listed in the report as Lane-Woodard) and her former boss, ex-Public Safety Director William “Wiz” Miller, either lied while testifying or were grossly incompetent. The two were asked about allegations that law enforcement higher-ups quashed an investigation into corruption in DeKalb’s watershed department.
Also, an Atlanta Public Schools communications officer, Christian Vann, left the system last month, days after the release of the grand jury report that recommended he and 11 individuals be investigated for possible criminal conduct. A school system spokeswoman said Vann left Aug. 29, but she would not specify whether he was fired or resigned.
The yearlong grand jury investigation ended in January and was released in August. Grand jurors said they found endemic “incompetence, patronage, fraud and cronyism” and recommended criminal investigations of current and former DeKalb officials and vendors, including CEO Burrell Ellis and Miller.
Ellis was indicted in June on corruption charges, was suspended and awaits trial. Ellis and Miller deny wrongdoing. The report did not recommend Williams (Lane-Woodard) be criminally investigated. She will work in the uniform division.
The grand jury also recommended Ellis’ former chief of staff, Jabari Simama, be investigated for bid rigging and perjury. Simama left in 2012 to become president of Georgia Piedmont Technical College. College spokesman Mike Light said officials are aware of the report, adding, “We’re going to watch and see what further actions come from the district attorney.”
The grand jury said a DeKalb detective investigated alleged corruption in the watershed department for six months and turned over a “link analysis chart” of her findings to Williams. About two days later, the investigation was “abruptly halted” by Miller, grand jurors wrote.
“We were deeply disturbed by the conflicting testimony of Director Miller and (Assistant) Chief Lane-Woodard on the simple issue of whether information concerning possible corruption was even given to the FBI for their review,” the grand jury wrote. “Based on their testimony, we are forced to conclude that Director Miller and (Assistant) Chief Lane-Woodard either perjured themselves or are abjectly incompetent.”
The public safety director’s position has since been abolished and Miller later retired.
Concerning Williams, current Police Chief Cedric Alexander said in a statement, “I have made numerous personnel and administrative changes to ensure our department is providing the most efficient service to the community, and this personnel change is no different.”
The grand jury’s report said that in 2006 a county official said he wanted a “black face” on an upcoming tree-cutting contract. So Vann, then a Cartoon Network employee, was approached to create a phony company and garner the contract for another business that would actually do the work.
“The realization that a fictitious company with no assets, no equipment, no employees and no experience in the relevant area can win a multimillion-dollar services contract with the county is of great concern, ” grand jurors noted. Vann and the tree trimmer soon fought over money, said the report, and he sold the name of the fake business to a businessman and moved on.
Vann last month told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “That was a long time ago. What happened, happened.”
