About The Advance. (Vidalia, Ga.) 2003-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 2023)
gfre Aiiuancg The ADVANCE, August 30, 2023/Page 9A Ex-teller pleads guilty to pocketing bank deposits By Dave Williams Bureau Chief Capitol Beat News Service A former Candler County bank teller has pleaded guilty to bank fraud after skimming near ly $90,000 from a conve nience store’s deposits. Kayla Evans, 32, of Metter is facing up to 30 years in prison and up to three years of supervised release after completing her sentence as well as sub stantial fines and restitu tion. Evans worked as a teller for the Synovus Bank in Metter, where a focal convenience store kept its account. An auditor for the store began noticing substantial discrepancies between the amount of cash presented to the bank for deposit and the amount credited to the store. An investigation found that from July 2019 through February 2021, Evans skimmed large amounts of cash for her personal use, crediting a smaller de posit to the store. As part of her plea, she agreed to pay restitution for the full loss caused by her criminal conduct and to never again seek employment in a fi nancial institution. “Bank customers count on their financial institution to operate with honesty and integrity, and Kayla Evans violated that trust,” said Jill Steinberg, U.S. attorney for the South ern District of Georgia. “This plea offers assurance that Evans will be held ac countable for her theft.” Evans will be sen tenced following a pre-sen tence investigation by U.S. Probation Services. The investigation was led by the Federal Reserve Board’s Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Con sumer Financial Protection Bureau, working with the Candler County Sheriff’s Office, the district attor ney’s office for the Middle Judicial Circuit, and the Georgia Bureau of Investi gation. Wheeler continued from page 1A dence in Laurens County. Accompanied by her attor ney, she posted a $24,000 bond and was released from jail in just a little over an hour. Sheriff Randy Rigdon said response by law en forcement was hampered by a delay in reporting the incident. He said he learned of the occurrence on May 8 when he visited the Circle K Store on Sec ond Street and was handed a brown paper bag by a store employee with infor mation written on it per taining to the case. After contacting the mother of a juvenile who was allegedly involved, Rigdon said his office reviewed video from the store and contacted the GBI for assistance in track ing down the suspect. It was noted in the re port that when asked about the delay in reporting the occurrence, the store man ager said the employee who was on duty at the time of the incident “did not know what to do and assumed the (juvenile’s) motherwas going to call the law.” The incident garnered widespread attention after broadcast media aired an interview with one of the parties in the case. Indictment in Shooting Case The August term of the Grand Jury also re turned a 10-count indict ment against Kendrick Lamar Powell, whose cur rent address is the Georgia Diagnostic Classification Prison in Jackson, and pre viously of Eastman. Powell was charged in connection with the April 19, 2023, shooting an Alamo man who survived the incident. The counts against Pow ell include aggravated as sault; possession of a fire arm by a convicted felon; possession of marijuana with intent to distribute; possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute (2 counts); pos session of a firearm during the commission of a felony (4 counts); and possession of drug-related objects. Other Indictments Indictments were also returned in the following cases: Brian Carswell of Hart well and Thomas Travis, Jr. of Alamo, were indicted on 3 counts in a joint indict ment following an incident on May 19, 2021, in which they were charged with taking a golf cart: posses sion of cocaine (Carswell); theft by taking (Carswell and Travis); and posses sion of marijuana, less than one ounce (Carswell). Billy Crews, Jr. of Na- hunta, 4 counts in a De cember 20, 2021, incident: possession of metham- phetamine with intent to distribute; possession of schedule 4 controlled sub stance; possession of mari juana (less than an ounce); speeding. George Dexter Thrift of Hazlehurst, 3 counts, in an incident occurring March 20, 2022: terroris tic threats. He is accused of threatening to kill two women and one man. Tiger Taquan Rober son, a resident of Coastal State Prison in Garden City and previously of Hines- ville, 5 counts in an April 21, 2022, incident in which he is accused of choking a man and striking a juve nile: terroristic threats; ag gravated assault; cruelty to children in the first degree; criminal damage to prop erty in the second degree; and cruelty to children in the third degree. Charles Edward Myrick of Alamo, 6 counts in a May 13, 2022, inci dent: possession of co caine; possession of a schedule 1 controlled substance; possession of marijuana (less than one ounce); obstruction of an officer (misdemeanor); tail light violation; expired tag. Anthony Trey Wilcox of McRae-Helena, 1 count stemming from an incident at the Wheeler County Jail where he was in custody on June 14, 2022: unlawfully possessing methamphet- amine, a schedule 2 drug. Christopher Dean Taylor, an inmate at Wheeler Correctional Facility (WCF) and pre viously of Glennville, 4 counts stemming from a July 12, 2022, incident at the prison: obstruction of an officer (felony); un lawful acts of violence in a penal institution; posses sion of prohibited items by inmates; obstruction of an officer (misdemeanor). Michael Deshawn Williams of Glenwood, 4 separate indictments for 4 incidents occurring Octo ber 17, 2022, on Third Ave nue in Glenwood in which he was accused of break ing windows out of com mercial properties. Each indictment included one count each of damage to property in the second de gree. He was also indicted for an incident occurring on July 20, 2022: 1 count, damage to property by cut ting the tires on a vehicle with damages exceeding $500. Jade M. Floyd of Lumber City, 1 count in an incident on November 24, 2022: simple battery against a person 65 years or older. Devin Trae Jarriel, Re tt o £ tt c < a> N N E S 1 A B E A M 1 p U S E Y N O M c O N T E A N T R A S U ' 0 H E E S E S T E A K U L S T E R A C T O R E S S E S T A S T E L E S S A D S A D D O H A S A R S 1 C R O C S A T E L Y N A C E L L E P R E A B G L A N D E P E E S T E A T A 1 D A D S E P A R A B L E 1 C 1 E R P R A 1 A A N E M 1 A 1 M A G 1 N A T 1 V 3 1 b D T R 1 L E D 1 A S E s N E T S A L T 3 D O O R • T R Y 2 8 8 7 5 4 1 3 9 5 4 1 8 9 3 8 7 2 7 9 3 2 8 1 6 5 4 3 1 7 4 6 5 2 9 8 8 8 4 9 3 2 5 1 7 9 2 5 1 7 8 4 6 3 6 7 2 8 1 9 3 4 5 1 5 8 3 4 7 9 2 8 4 3 9 5 2 8 7 8 1 PRESS RELEASE ANNOUNCING A PROPOSED PROPERTY TAX INCREASE The Toombs County Board of Education today announces its intention to increase the 2023 property taxes it will levy this year by 3.79 percent over the rollback millage rate. The Toombs County Board of Education proposes rolling back the millage rate from 14.37 to 14.0 mills. In accordance with Georgia Code 20-2-165, boards of education must maintain an equivalent millage rate of at least 14 mills to prevent the loss of state equalization grant funding. Due to the reassessment of proper ty values, the rollback millage rate required by Georgia law would cause Toombs County Schools’ millage rate to fall below the required 14 mills and forfeit the state equalization funding (approximately $2.3 million annually) and would cause a substantial increase in the school millage rate. Therefore, the Toombs County Board of Education proposes to decrease the 2022 millage rate by .370 mills and adopt the minimum millage rate of 14.0 mills required to receive state equaliza tion funding. The Toombs County Board of Education would like our property taxpayers to understand that unless your property has been reassessed (taxable value increased) during the year then you WILL NOT see a tax increase. When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia Law requires that a rollback millage rate must be computed that will produce the same total revenue on the current year's new digest that last year's millage rate would have produced had no reassessments occurred. The budget tentatively adopted by the Toombs County Board of Education requires a mill- age rate higher than the rollback millage rate; therefore, before the Toombs County Board of Education may set a final millage rate, Georgia Law requires that three public hearings be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on this increase. All con cerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be held at the Toombs County High School, 500 Bulldog Road, Lyons, Georgia on September 7, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. and September 14, 2023 at 8:15 a.m. and 6:05 p.m. idsville, 1 count in a De cember 10, 2022, incident: theft by conversion. Jason Kyle Alford, an inmate at WCF, previously of Milledgeville, 4 counts stemming from a Decem ber 17, 2022, incident: ag gravated assault on a police officer; unlawful acts of violence in a penal institu tion; obstruction of an offi cer (felony); possession of prohibited items. Jeremy Kyle Scott of Uvalda and Ashtin Brooke Beecher of Uvalda, in a 7- count, double indictment stemming from an incident on December 17, 2022: illegal use of a communi cations device in the com mission of a felony (Scott); trafficking in methamphet- amine (both defendants); theft by receiving stolen property (both); posses sion of a firearm in the commission of a felony (both); possession of a fire arm by a convicted felon (2 counts, Scott and Beecher, individually); possession of drug-related objects. Elisia Baker of Pool er, 5 counts in a Decem ber 31, 2022, incident at WCF: possession of marijuana with intent to distribute; furnishing pro hibited items to inmates (3 counts); crossing guard lines with drugs. Derek Lamont Austin, Riverbend Correctional Facility in Milledgeville and previously of McRae- Helena, and Kenneth John Giaramita of McRae-Hel ena in a 1-count, double indictment stemming from an incident on January 11, 2023: possession of 2 grams of methamphet- amine, a schedule 2 con trolled substance. Arnetta Harvey of Ala mo, 3 counts in a February 14, 2023, incident: cruelty to children in the first de gree (2 counts); and cruel ty to children in the second degree. Selena Vargas of Ly ons and Jesup, 2 counts for an incident on March 21, 2023: possession of meth- amphetamine; cruelty to children by using narcotics while pregnant. Harry Ray Shouse of Mt. Vernon, 2 counts stem ming from an incident on March 27, 2023: aggravat ed assault and terroristic threats (felony). Jesse James Smith of Glenwood and Kevin Mathis of Mt. Vernon, in a 5 count, joint indictment in an incident on March 28, 2023: possession of methamphetamine (both defendants); possession of a firearm during the com mission of a felony (both); possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (Smith); driving on suspended, can celled, or revoked registra tion (Mathis); possession of drug-related objects (both). Michael Cole Marsh of McRae-Helena, 3 counts, in an incident on April 23, 2023: financial transaction, card theft (2 counts); theft by taking (cell phone) Kahlid Rashid Harper of Macon, 3 counts in an incident on May 9,2023, at the Wheeler County Jail: crossing guard line with contraband; possession of marijuana (less than one ounce); obstruction of an officer. Brian Carswell of Whitworth Parole Center at Hartwell and previously of Alamo, 3 counts in an incident occurring on June 3, 2023: possession of co caine; operating a vehicle without insurance; failure to maintain brake lights in good working condition.
