About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 10, 2018)
Bookkeeper Continued from Page 1 period from 2008 to 2014.” “Due to the volume of transac tions and the complexity of the many schemes to steal money from the of fice, I am confident we will continue to uncover thefts that have yet to be identified,” Adams said. In his testimony Adams provid ed a simple explanation of how the money was stolen. Cash was removed from bank deposits and covered with checks to or from other Superior Court accounts. “Most of the cash was stolen from the Court’s Child Support Received ac count because most of those payments come to us in cash,” Adams said. GBI agent Lawrence Kelly testified that as bookkeeper Morten’s job was to receive all the funds daily and deposit them into the proper court account. “He, Morten, was responsible for depositing all the money into the bank,” Kelly said. Kelly said that in 2014 a general audit discovered irregularities and Glynn County Sheriff Neal Jump was called and he in turn called in the GBI. Kelly said witnesses noticed a change in Morten’s lifestyle and the GBI found he had several cars. The GBI also contacted the Georgia Lot tery who verified Morten had collected a maximum of $2,500 from the lottery. Kelly also said that Morten had told the GBI he was paid cash under the table by his church (Philadelphia Overcomers Church of Deliverance). Robert Balsam, a forensic auditor employed by the GBI, testified to the differences between the daily receipts and the bank deposits made between 2011 and 2014. Money comes into the Clerk’s office as cash or check and a daily till report is created. Discrepancies were found when those daily till reports were compared to the bank deposits. Balsam testified that from between 2011 to 2014 $1,561,529 was received into the Child Support Receiver fund but only $888,259 was deposited into the bank. This left a shortage of $673,270. Balsam also testified that the days Morten was on leave there were no discrepancies between the money re ceived and the bank deposits made. The shortages were covered by checks from other Superior Court ac counts or by checks from other people or entities to the court. Balsam also testified that the over $600,000 shortage could not be traced to Morten or anyone else. Adams testified to the following: • $240,783 in checks from different entities made payable to Glynn Coun ty Superior Court were deposited into the Child Support Receiver account. Most of these were Real Estate Trust Account checks. • endorsements into the Superior Court General account were stamped over or stricken through and endorsed to Child Support Receiver account • no explanations for a $5,000 check payable to Golden Isles Nissan as well as a $5,000 check payable to Wells Fargo Dealer Services. • seven checks totaling $31,469 from three accounts payable to a single person with no explanation. • four checks totaling $23,236 pay able to one person with no explanation. Adams stated, “Mr. Morten began working for the (Clerk’s) office August 19, 2008. One of the 70 enumerated charges he is facing is a check cre ated Sept. 19, 2008, and then negoti ated into Mr. Morten’s account Oct. 21, 2008. The first theft occurred two months after beginning employment.” In the end all the state could prove that went into Morten’s SunTrust ac count was $76,008. Robert Crowe, Morten’s attorney, called several character witnesses on his client’s behalf. Many of them are people he works with at America’s Car Mart. They each testified that Morten is an excellent employee whose duties have included selling cars as well as collecting money for the cars and that there have been no discrepancies. Crowe asked the court to consider a first offender status for Morten and allow him to continue to work and pay the $76,000 back to the Superior Court as well as the $72,500 audit cost to Glynn County. Several witnesses testified that they believed he could pay the money back. Morten told the court that he was sorry and embarrassed. “I can’t look my parents in the face,” he said. He said he began stealing when he was faced with a sick mother-in-law and wanted to help her. When Judge Robert (Bert) Guy asked Morten if he agreed to the amount ($76,000) he was charged with stealing, he said it seemed high. Morten then said former Superior Court Clerk Lola Jamsky told him to move the money and that he knows others were involved. Morten said no when asked if he was accusing Ms. Jamsky of stealing. He finally admitted to stealing the $76,000. Morten said he could pay back $50,000 now and the rest over the next five years at $1,000 per month. After a short recess Judge Guy told September 9, 2018, The Islander, Page 5 Morten that because he had violated the public trust and the thefts had occurred over several different years and in several different ways, he was denying first offender status. He sentenced Morten to 35 years on all 70 counts and to serve eight years in state prison with two years off the eight provided he fully cooperated with Glynn County to provide infor mation so bond and insurance money could be collected. Morten will remain for 45 days in the Glynn County Detention Center so he can provide information to the county. Volunteers welcome Volunteers welcome to help Ameri ca’s Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia and College of Coastal Georgia student volunteers at the Hands of Hope Pack- A-Thon on Thursday, September 13 at 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in the Anchor in the College of Coastal Georgia Stu dent Activity Center. Kalista Morton at 912.261.7979 or email kmorton@ helpendhunger.org. AN OPEN LETTER FROM JULIAN “PUDDY” SMITH TO COUNTY COMMISSIONER PETER MURPHY: Dear Commissioner Murphy: Thank you for scheduling a “Town Hall” meeting at 6:00 PM on Thursday, September 13th, at Sea Palms Conference Center. According to the announcement released by Citizens for St. Simons and Sea Island, you plan to provide updates on a number of issues before you “also entertain questions from the audience.” At your last “Town Hall” meeting in June, it took nearly forty minutes before you opened the floor to questions from the public. I hope that this time you will entertain questions AND COMMENTS much earlier in the meeting. Here are some questions I would like to hear answered on Thursday evening: --Why hasn’t the County Commission surveyed island residents to find out how many evacuated the islands in 2016 for Hurricane Matthew or in 2017 for Tropical Storm Irma? --Why hasn’t the County Commission surveyed island residents to find out how many do not plan to evacuate in the event of another tropical storm or hurricane? --Why hasn’t the County Commission made any realistic plans for preparing for hurricanes other than to order mandatory evacuation? In the event I am elected to fill the at-large seat now occupied by Commissioner Stambaugh, are you prepared to cooperate with me and two other County Commissioners to pass ordinance amendments to do the following: --To restore review and approval of preliminary plats to the sole authority of the Islands Planning Commission? --To give the IPC sole authority to accept applications as complete? --To allow the IPC to decide whether or not to hold a public site walk? --To require a public comment period at the start of every meeting of the IPC to provide the public the opportunity to comment on issues or matters not on the agenda for that meeting? --To provide for the appointment of three alternate members of the IPC, one appointed by the Commissioner representing the islands, and one by each of the two at-large Commissioners? --To require the Board of Commissioners to hold a public hearing before deliberating and voting on an appeal of the IPC’s denial of a Site Plan application? Finally, are you willing to support a survey of the residents of Saint Simons Island to find out how many would support incorporation as a way to give residents control over the future of their island? This ad was paid for by the Committee to Elect Smith at-Large
