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LOCAL
THURSDAY, JULY 12 -18, 2018 • Page 2
DeKalb County Police major
accused of mishandling funds
Officer L.E. Kowalski, center, with Major K.D. Johnson, right, during an officer of the quarter presentation. Photo courtesy of
DeKalb County Police.
BY HORACE HOLLOMAN
horace@dekalbchamp.com
DeKalb County resident
Brenda Pace said she has
been active and supportive
of the DeKalb County Police
Department for decades.
Pace said she frequently
donates money to the
department, but an interaction
which occurred April, 2017
with a supposed liaison of
the department—left her
suspicious.
After a community meeting
last year, Pace said she asked
to donate money to the
department and was told to
contact DeKalb South Precinct
“ambassador” Marjorie Clay.
“I immediately thought that
was odd,” Pace said.
According to
documentation obtained by
The Champion Newspaper, Clay
requested donors make checks
payable to Green Pastures
Christian Ministries and write
“South Precinct” in the memo
line.
According to Pace, Clay
told her the check would be
delivered to the church and
after the church processed
the check the funds would be
funneled back to the South
Precinct department to be
used.
“The red flag went up and
my stomach turned,” Pace said.
“I thought this is not the right
way to go.”
Pace said she believes
DeKalb County Police Major
K.D. Johnson and Clay
mismanaged funds for years
and should be held accountable
for their actions.
“I am upset because this
makes our police department
look horrible. People are
always questioning what
is wrong with our [South]
precinct and why the officers
have the attitudes they have,”
Pace said.
According to an internal
affairs investigation completed
Sept. 9, 2017, Johnson allowed
Clay to solicit funds on behalf
of the South Precinct to be
used for various community
outreach projects and named
her as a “South Precinct
ambassador.”
During the investigation,
an officer described Johnson
as a man who “did not tolerate
being questioned about how
he handled operations at the
precinct.”
According to reports,
Clay paid herself $700 from
$2,000 collected for a Spring
Break Camp event. Johnson
also said he was unaware the
South Precinct had a financial
services account for donations.
The internal affairs report
said, “[Major Johnson] failed
to seek guidance from the
financial services officer,
or anyone else, about the
managing of such funds. If he
had, he would have discovered
that the South Precinct has an
account in financial services
that can be utilized for that
very purpose. As a result of
this lack of oversight, it is now
impossible to determine how
much money was collected,
how the money was used, who
was approached to donate
or who donated money. In
the only case where records
were kept, albeit minimal
records, was in the case of the
Spring Break Camp held in
April 2017. In that case, it was
determined that Clay took
$700 of the $2,000 raised for
herself. This gross misuse of
funds could not have occurred
if proper oversights were in
place.”
In a memo dated May 22
from Assistant Chief C. Yarbro
to Police Chief James Conroy,
Yarbro suggested Johnson be
demoted for his actions.
In his memo, Yarbro stated
Johnson “bypassed his chain
of command” when he allowed
Clay to solicit donations.
“It goes without saying
that the seriousness of these
offenses, when taken in
totality, is of tremendous
concern, especially when
they are committed by a
major,” Yarbro wrote. “These
intentional actions are not
representative of someone
in his position and creates
a situation whereby I, as his
supervisor, have diminished
confidence in his ability to
perform his duties within
the confines of policy. Nor
do I have confidence that
Major Johnson recognizes the
predicament he has placed
himself and the department in
by his careless behavior.”
On June 29, Johnson was
suspended from the DeKalb
County Police Department
for eight hours without pay
for “violation of departmental
rules.”
“I want to know why
[Johnson] was given a slap on
the wrist and why he’s allowed
to destroy this precinct with
his horrible management
skills,” Pace said.
DeKalb County Public
Information Officer Shiera
Campbell said Johnson is still
employed with the department
as a major.
“He was not demoted.
There’s nothing that warranted
him being demoted,” Campbell
said.
Campbell said she is unsure
how much money was raised
by Clay.
“I can say that it was an
issue where there wasn’t proper
oversight,” Campbell said.
“That was one of the issues.”
REDUCE • REUSE * RECYCLE f)j
Tech survey
says Atlanta/
Stonecrest a
favorite finalist
for second
Amazon site
BY CARLA PARKER
carla@dekalbchamp.com
Amazon is still evaluating
cities to be home to its second
headquarters, but a recent
survey said Atlanta is the
second top favorite for HQ2.
GeekWire, a national
technology news site out of
Seattle, conducted a survey
and asked more than 2,000 of
its readers which of the final
20 cities in the running for
Amazon’s second headquarters
they would live in. Raleigh,
N.C., took the top spot with
11 percent of votes and
Atlanta came in second.
“About 29 percent of
respondents said they work in
business and marketing, while
28 percent are developers
and engineers—a specialty
of particular interest to
Amazon and other tech
companies that compete for
talent,” the website stated.
“About 13 percent said they
are technology executives of
startup founders.”
Amazon announced the
final 20 cities Jan. 18 for the
possible new location of
HQ2, which will be equal
to its Seattle headquarters.
Although Atlanta is the
only city on the list from
Georgia, Stonecrest can still
be the new home for Amazon
because Atlanta includes
metro Atlanta, according
to the Georgia Economic
Development Office.
Amazon officials said they
evaluated all proposals based
on the criteria outlined in the
request for proposal to create
the list of 20 candidates that
will continue in the selection
process. Amazon will work
with each city to “dive deeper”
into their proposals, request
additional information and
evaluate the feasibility of a
future partnership that can
accommodate the company’s
hiring plans as well as benefit
its employees and the local
community.
Stonecrest is offering to
de-annex 345 acres on the
northeast side of the city for
HQ2 and call it Amazon, Ga.
When he gave his state-of-
SEE STONECREST ON PAGE 8