Three former Georgia State Prison employees have been indicted in Tattnal County for allegedly scheming to steal tens of thousands of dollars from the state, authorities said.
Debbie Lynn Wright, a senior clerk at the prison in Reidsville, was charged with one count of racketeering and two counts of theft, according to a news release from the Georgia Attorney General's Office.
Her daughter Christin Lynn Wright, an administrative assistant at the prison, also was charged with racketeering, while Paul Sylvester Thornhill, a licensed practical nurse at the prison, was charged with one count of theft by taking, the Attorney General's Office said.
The indicted former employees were initially investigated at the request of the jail warden after a whistleblower complaint was received in December 2009, officials said. The suspects were fired within two weeks after the allegations surfaced.
The indictment alleges that Debbie Lynn Wright devised a scheme to defraud the state by manually entering fraudulent information into electronic time sheets that resulted in Thornhill and Christin Lynn Wright being paid for overtime hours they did not work.
Thornhill received double or triple payment for working the same hours, the indictment said.
On at least two occasions, Debbie Lynn Wright used documents containing entries she knew to be fraudulent to support her manual entries, according to the indictment.
Thornhill and Christin Lynn Wright took their ill-gotten gains by bank deposit or check and returned some of the money to Debbie Lynn Wright directly or by paying bills on her behalf, the indictment said.
It is estimated that Christin Lynn Wright received about $14,000 in unearned compensation, and Thornhill received at least $63,000 in unearned compensation.
Racketeering carries a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to three times the amount of money stolen, authorities said. Theft by a government employee carries a maximum of 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
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