Some DeKalb County officials are accused of misusing taxpayer funds through the abuse of their purchasing cards.
But DeKalb isn't the first place in Georgia where such accusations have arisen. Here's a look at a few other cases:
DeKalb County
Elaine Boyer pleaded guilty in federal court in September 2014 to systematically bilking her DeKalb County constituents out of more than $90,000. An investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, however, put the figure at just over $100,000.
Boyer ran up thousands of dollars in personal purchases on her county Visa card. The AJC first exposed how Boyer used the card for family airline tickets, rental cars, a ski resort booking and personal cell phone charges in March 2014, sparking the federal investigation.
Bob Lundsten, Boyer's top aide, pleaded not guilty in May to accusations that he used his government charge card for personal purposes.
Lundsten initially faced six counts of theft by taking and three counts of making false statements. Among other things, he was accused of lying when he scribbled "office drinks and supplies" on a $79 Kroger receipt, and "office shipping" on two UPS receipts totaling $72.
Over the years, however, he rang up far more personal expenses, the AJC found. Since 2012, Lundsten wrote nearly $1,000 in checks to the county reimbursing charges he “erroneously” put on his county card, such as $128 in jewelry and $45 in wine accessories, according to memos that accompanied the checks.
Some of those reimbursements came only after the AJC and Channel 2 Action News questioned him about the expenses, including a $57 towing charge and $83 paid to River Street Sweets. In both cases, he said he thought those expenses had already been paid back.
Fulton County
Nicola Hosier, a former financial systems supervisor in the county's Human Services Department, pleaded guilty in April 2013 to a 113-count indictment for using her county-issued credit card to buy linens, chairs, place settings, silverware and dishes for her private event planning business, Exquisite Events Atlanta LLC.
She was the only county employee who faced criminal charges in a scheme that allegedly siphoned $183,000 in taxpayer funds into four workers' pockets.
Georgia Tech
A 2013 internal audit outlined a number of possibly bogus invoices and procurement card payments made to questionable companies with ties to two employees at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. The suspicious — and in some cases unaccounted for — purchases totaled about $1.5 million, according to the audit.
A third employee approved the card statements. The scope of the investigation eventually named seven employees, all of whom were either fired or resigned, according to 11 Alive.
A 2007 state audit found that a cardholder at Tech made approximately $40,000 in allegedly fraudulently purchases, including: more than $18,000 in gift cards, a $1,300 diamond ring from Amazon, a $270 repair for her sister's car and $3,300 in payments for her son's car insurance.
The woman allegedly admitted to these purchases, according to the state audit. When the university was notified of the purchases, "the employee was terminated immediately," according to the audit.
Warner Robins Air Force Base
In one year – from July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014 – Department of Defense cardholders made 4,437 transactions totaling almost a million dollars at casinos. Another 900 transactions for about $100,000 were made at “adult entertainment establishments.”
A Warner Robins Air Force Base worker four times used his government travel charge card to withdraw money from a casino ATM in the gambling resort community of West Wendover, getting $1,500.
He tried to make another nine withdrawals, totaling $2,363, but they were declined.
HR didn't take any action. By the time a government watchdog found out, something called the Employee Relations Board said too much time had passed to do anything about it.
All were likely for personal use, the IG concluded.
Georgia Perimeter College
Two different cardholders at the college made allegedly fraudulent purchases, according to the 2007 state audit.
One cardholder allegedly spent $4,500 on 16 Visa debit cards used to make car payments and $9,180 on Walmart gift cards, according to the audit. She allegedly admitted to using the gift cards for personal reasons, according to the audits. She said she had secretly repaid the college, according to the audit.
A second cardholder allegedly spent $2,340 on Visa debit cards — because, she said, she was reimbursing mileage expenses she did not know how to file for reimbursement with the school, according to the audit.
