Three men accused of overcharging the international gun manufacturer Glock Inc. by more than $3 million for private investigation services may not have to face theft charges if Cobb County prosecutors cannot overcome some legal hurdles.
On Monday, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that Cobb County Superior Court Judge C. LaTain Kell Sr. must reconsider charges against the three lawyers — former federal prosecutor Jim Harper and lawyers Jerry Chapman and Jeffery Pombert — to determine whether the four-year statute of limitations on the theft charges has expired.
The three men were hired in 2000 to investigate wrongdoing by some high-ranking employees of Glock Inc., the North American headquarters of the company based in Smyrna.
The men, who were indicted in 2010, have pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of theft or attempted theft, as well as one count of racketeering.
Theft and attempted theft are charges that must be brought within four years of when the crime is discovered by law enforcement. Under Georgia law, however, no time limit applies if the victim of the theft is someone 65 years or older.
The court ruled that the prosecution erred when it invoked the exception to the time limit by claiming the victim was the company’s founder, octogenarian Gaston Glock. It was Glock Inc. and its affiliated businesses that suffered the loss, according to the ruling.
Attorneys for the defendants could not be reached Monday.
Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds, who took office in January following the retirement of Pat Head, said he would review the ruling before determining how to proceed with the case.
“Am I concerned? Absolutely,” Reynolds said. “Certainly every time a case is reversed in part and remanded back I’m concerned about how strong it is, what’s left to prosecute.”
Reynolds said he would decide by the end of the week whether to file a motion for reconsideration.
If he doesn’t, the next step will be for the trial judge to determine when law enforcement found out about the alleged crimes. According to the indictment, all the alleged thefts occurred between Nov. 6, 2001, and April 11, 2003 — seven years before the 2010 indictment. If law enforcement knew about the alleged thefts more than four years ago, then those charges will have to be dismissed.
Harper, Chapman and Pombert would not be completely off the hook, though.
They can still be prosecuted on the racketeering charge, which alleges that they engaged in a pattern of setting up bank accounts and transferring Glock money to them for their own use.
Those acts allegedly occurred up until February 2009, well within the statute of limitations.
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