DeKalb Official, Two Others Indicted in Bail Bond Scam
Group preyed on people who spoke poor English
By David Simpson
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Two Atlanta men who claimed they were helping people get bond refunds conspired with a manager in the DeKalb County sheriff’s office to steal $350,000, a grand jury alleged Thursday.
A DeKalb grand jury indicted Nathane Hoyte Jones, 42, Shandarrick Barnes, 33, and Dorcas Jernigan, no age available, of Decatur. They are charged under a state racketeering law for a conspiracy, which included theft, forgery, bribery and false swearing.
Jernigan was the manager of an office that issued refunds to people who had posted bonds for criminal suspects, said Sheriff Thomas Brown. Brown said Jones and Barnes ran a company offering to help clients, many of whom spoke little English, retrieve bond money. They are accused of forging signatures of non-clients with Jernigan’s help.
“We became aware of it when one of these individuals was written a check for $38,000 … but in this particular case, the father showed up who had put up the cash bond for the son” about a month later, Brown said.
Jernigan has been fired, Brown said. District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming said a related scheme took $61,000 from Cobb County.
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