A former assistant city clerk accused of stealing more than $26,000 from the city of Lithonia tricked the mayor into signing blank checks, a DeKalb County prosecutor said at a hearing Wednesday.
During the hearing, Alisa Dent entered a not-guilty plea before DeKalb Superior Court Judge Linda Hunter, Channel 2 Action News reported.
John Melvin, deputy assistant chief district attorney, told the judge that Mayor Tonya Peterson Anderson had been told by Dent “that these blank checks need to be signed because there was a misprint on some other checks.”
But instead of going to pay the city’s bills, the four checks allegedly went into Dent’s bank account.
Defense attorney Steve Roberts said his client did nothing wrong. “We're saying she's not guilty and we're ready to proceed to trial,” he said.
The money disappeared in July 2010 reportedly after Dent learned she was about to be laid off. The former city official was arrested last fall and charged with theft by taking by a city employee.
Anderson, in court to hear Dent’s plea, declined to comment after the hearing except to say mechanisms had been put in place to prevent future thefts from the city.
About the Author
