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4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, February 8,2023
Cleveland man indicted on child sex crime
By Julia Hansen
jhansen@dawsonnews.com
A White County man
has been formally accused
of more than 40 child sex
ual crimes, according to
documents filed in
Dawson County Superior
Court.
Matthew Scott Roberts,
40, of Cleveland, Roberts
faces 42 counts of
sexual exploitation
of children and
seven counts of
child molestation,
stated a Jan. 5
indictment.
He has also
been accused of
family violence-
related battery in another
2022 case.
Roberts
The Dawson
County Sheriff’s
Office arrested
him on Oct. 20,
2022. Roberts
allegedly commit
ted the various
sexual crimes on
June 26, July 23
and Oct. 20,
according to DCSO war
rants.
Collectively, the war
rants accused Roberts of
filming and possessing
more than a dozen explicit
videos of a 9-year-old girl
with whom he was previ
ously acquainted in
Dawson County and
allegedly having more
than 600 explicit photos
of the female victim.
Seven of the indicted
charges against Roberts
were dismissed due to
being duplicative and hav
ing incorrectly listed the
victim’s name, according
to a document filed Jan.
27.
Previously, Roberts was
indicted in a similar 2019
case in White County,
according to superior
court records there.
charges
However, that indictment
was thrown out in May
2021 because the allega
tion dates were too broad,
court documents stated.
Roberts remains at the
Dawson County
Detention Center without
bond.
DCN will update this
story as more information
becomes available.
DCSO's SWAT team currently uses a surplus ambulance.
Photo submitted to DCN
New truck for SWAT approved
By Julia Hansen
jhansen@dawsonnews.com
After the matter first came to the
Board of Commissioners in January,
the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office
is now well on its way to getting a
crucial piece of new SWAT equip
ment.
During their Feb. 2 voting session,
the board unanimously approved a
financing option for DCSO to secure
a bonafide SWAT truck. The
$300,000 purchase will ultimately
be funded by the agency’s Special
Purpose Local Option Sales Tax VII
vehicle funds.
“We appreciate the commission
ers’ continued commitment to pro
viding a greater level of public safety
to our county,"’ Dawson County
Sheriff Jeff Johnson said in a state
ment to DCN.
“This vehicle will not only pro
vide a greater response readiness for
our sheriff’s office, [but] it will pro
vide a level of safety that our SWAT
Members have not been accustomed
to.”
The sheriff called the board’s deci
sion “yet another example” of their
and DCSO’s work to protect the
community and the agency’s depu
ties.
At the BOC’s Jan. 19 work ses
sion, Johnson explained to the board
that his agency’s S.W.A.T. team was
reinstituted in 2017.
Johnson explained that since that
time, they’ve become highly trained,
practicing twice a month. Currently,
DCSO’s S.W.A.T. team is relying on
a federal surplus ambulance that’s
run into some
mechanical issues over the years.
“When we send them out to a
scene, we’re sending them out with
something that doesn’t have ballis
tic-type protection,” Johnson said.
Thankfully, though, the converted
vehicle has primarily been used for
high-risk warrants, with the team not
having to respond to many emergent
scenes. A new truck would not only
offer better ballistic protection, but
provide transportation for the
S.W.A.T. team and other response
options, Johnson added.
“Hopefully we’ll never need it, but
in the event that we do, we’ll be pre
pared,” he said.
Just as with Dawson County Fire
and Emergency services, DCSO has
mutual aid agreements with sur
rounding counties. Of those neigh
bors, law enforcement agencies in
Hall, Forsyth and Cherokee counties
have SWAT trucks.
During the Feb. 2 voting session,
District 2 Commissioner Chris
Gaines asked Johnson whether
reducing DCSO’s $1.5 million
SPLOST VII vehicle budget by
$300,000 or 25% would still allow
the agency to replace standard vehi
cles on a regular basis.
While he deferred giving a firm
“yes,” Johnson said DCSO isn’t hav
ing to replace its fleet at the rate that
they were since the vehicles are
newer and in better shape.
Johnson later added that DCSO
will still purchase the two vehicles
needed this year and that the agency
has already ordered them.
“From my seat, we want to give
the very best of every equipment we
can to every single employee in
order to outfit them to do their jobs,
especially the frontline guys who put
their lives on the line every day...I
completely respect and appreciate
that,” Gaines said.
The District 2 commissioner
added that he wanted to ensure that
one to two years down the road,
DCSO doesn’t come back before the
board “asking $300,000 more for
replacing [standard] vehicles.”
Johnson elaborated that’s why he
approached the board in this manner.
DCSO would only have to subtract
about one vehicle off of what’s typi
cally bought per year from SPLOST
allocations, and those costs could be
absorbed, he said.
He later estimated it’d take “at
least a year” to see the SWAT truck’s
delivery, a challenge that DCFES
also faced when securing future
ambulances.
Chief Financial Officer and
Interim County Manager Vickie
Neikirk said by about 2024, there
could be enough SPLOST funds col
lected that the county could pay for
the SWAT truck outright.
So, the board went ahead and
approved the option to finance the
truck’s purchase, should that become
necessary. If the county goes the
financing route to spread out the
truck cost, they wouldn’t be able to
confirm those details until closer to
when DCSO would receive the vehi
cle, Neikirk said.
In related news, the board formal
ly voted to approve its portion of
funding for an additional school
resource officer at Dawson County
High School.
The Dawson County Board of
Education and the county have a
50-50 agreement to pay for the posi
tion, which is worth a total cost of
$78,887. This new position comes
with a salary and benefits of
$49,642.
The BOE already voted to autho
rize their half for the position, BOC
Chairman Billy Thurmond told his
colleagues.
Sheriff Johnson confirmed his
agency already has money set aside
in the agency’s budget for the SRO’s
equipment.
Neikirk added that the county
would have to budget for the full
cost of the position but clarified that
the amount would be offset with rev
enue the county gets back from the
school system.
Man gets $500,000 bond after drug arrest
By Julia Hansen
jhansen@dawsonnews.com
A Canton man has been granted a
sizable bond after he was arrested
for alleged drug trafficking alongside
another man from Dawson County
last year.
Joshua McLaughlin, 34, was
granted a $500,000 bond on Jan. 10,
2023, according to documents filed
in White County Superior Court.
However, as of publication, his
bond hasn’t been paid, and he has
not been released.
Thomas Earl Garnsey, 49, of
Dawsonville, was released on a
$25,000 cash bond on Dec. 12, 2022
after being granted it on Dec. 8,
court documents stated.
McLaughlin and Garnsey were
arrested on Sept. 25, 2022 following
large drug seizures by the
Appalachian Regional Drug
Enforcement Office, stated a prior
press release from the agency.
The arrests came in light of an
investigation done by the White and
Lumpkin County sheriff’s offices,
Riverdale Police Department,
Atlanta-Carolinas High Intensity
Drug Trafficking Area program and
the ARDEO.
Agents seized more than 168
grams of fentanyl, 500 grams of
methamphetamine, 60 grams of
cocaine, 14 grams of ecstasy, 103
grams of Alprazolam, as well as
black tar heroin, crack cocaine, mar
ijuana, and over $10,000 in assets.
“This is the largest fentanyl sei
zure ever made inside of White
County,” the ARDEO’s press release
stated.
The fentanyl and meth alone were
valued at $25,200 and about $35,000
respectively, GBI Assistant Special
Agent in Charge Aaron Maupin pre
viously said.
Garnsey was charged with traf
ficking methamphetamine, posses
sion of methamphetamine and cross
ing guard lines with drugs without
consent, according to court records.
McLaughlin was charged with
one count each of trafficking meth
amphetamine and cocaine. He also
received charges for possession with
the intent to distribute fentanyl, hero
in, ecstasy, alprazolam and marijua
na. Authorities also cited him for
speeding and having defective tires.
Lumpkin County belongs to the
Enotah Judicial Circuit, which also
includes Towns, Union and White
counties.
Both Garnsey and McLaughlin’s
cases are under pre-indictment. In
other words, the cases are still being
prepared for a grand jury, after
which formal charges could be filed
against the men.
UNG accounting
to offer free tax
prep this month
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
This February, students
pursuing bachelor’s
degrees in accounting
from the University of
North Georgia will offer
free tax preparation as a
way to build their skills
and be of service in their
community.
According to a press
release by UNG, the stu
dents participating are
part of the Volunteer
Income Tax Assistance
program, sponsored by
the IRS. The UNG pro
gram typically serves
over 100 taxpayers each
filing season.
The free tax prepara
tion services are offered
by appointment only
from 4 to 8 p.m. on
Tuesdays and Thursdays
from Feb. 2 through
March 2, the release said.
The services are located
in room 153 of the newly
opened Cottrell Center
for Business, Technology
& Innovation on UNG’s
Dahlonega campus.
Lisa Nash, a certified
public accountant and
UNG senior lecturer of
accounting, will oversee
the tax preparation ser
vices. The students,
under Nash’s direction,
are certified by testing
through the IRS.
“Students get to grow
both their soft skills and
their technical knowl
edge, and our community
members get knowledge
able assistance in prepar
ing their tax returns,”
Department Head of
Accounting and Law
Ellen Best said in the
release. “The skills our
students grow during
their participation in
VITA help them in turn
to be better professionals
when they go out into the
workplace.”
VITA offers free tax
services to people who
generally make $60,000
or less, the release said.
Students prepare 1040
forms with schedules A,
B, C-EZ and D, along
with basic tax credits.
Federal and state returns
will be prepared for free
while the taxpayers are
present, and Nash will
review all returns with
the taxpayers before fil
ing them electronically,
with direct deposit avail
able if desired.
According to the
release, students in the
program are eager to help
those in their community
with tax preparations and
to gain valuable experi
ence at the same time.
“This experience will
help me in the future
‘The skills our
students grow
during their
participation
in VITA help
them in turn
to be better
professionals
when they go
out into the
workplace.
Ellen Best
Department Head of
Accounting
because I already did an
internship in audit and
have a job in audit, so
this will give me a little
bit of insight into what
the other big side of
accounting looks like,”
UNG senior accounting
student Erin Whatley said
in the release. “This way,
if I ever decide I need a
change from audit, I
know a little bit about
what tax looks like in the
workplace and can
decide if it is something I
will want to do full time.”
“I am looking forward
to making connections
and helping the elderly in
the community by assist
ing them with their tax
returns and answering
any tax questions they
may have. My goal is to
make sure that every cli
ent I interact with has a
good experience and con
tinues to come back year
after year to the VITA
program,” UNG senior
accounting student
Esther Rizo added in the
release. “By being a part
of the VITA program, I
hope to gain tax experi
ence that will help me
decide if the tax side of
accounting is a good fit
forme.”
The site will also be
offering an online, facili
tated self-assist program
which will allow taxpay
ers to prepare their own
tax returns with the over
sight and assistance of
the VITA volunteers.
Taxpayers are encour
aged to go to the IRS
website for a list of items
to bring to their appoint
ment.
For more information
about the program, the
self-assist option or to
schedule an appointment
on campus, call 706-867-
3082 or email vita@ung.
edu.
Photo courtesy of UNG
Accounting students at UNG will offer free tax
prep this month to those in their communities as
part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance pro
gram sponsored by the IRS.
