State probe into DA’s office continues
State authorities remained tight-lipped this week about an ongoing probe into the Piedmont Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office. While state officials declined to comment on the status of the criminal investigation into the financial dealings surrounding district attorney Tim Madison, sources indicate that investigators continue to talk with current and former employees of the office.
Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker launched the probe in March after several investigative articles in The Jackson Herald raised questions about Madison’s financial activities.
State investigators have reportedly talked to a number of public officials in Jackson, Banks and Barrow counties, which make up the Piedmont Circuit. In addition, a number of public records and financial records have been gathered by the state in its investigation.
Among the issues uncovered by The Herald’s investigation were:
• Madison had employed his wife, Linn Jones, in the Jackson County DA’s office since 2004. During 2005 and 2006, he had her on both the Jackson County and Banks County district attorney payrolls. She netted $55,000 in 2006 from the two counties, one of the highest paid positions in his office. Madison had also previously arranged for her to work under a 2001 federal grant his office received, first by having the Banks County Sheriff’s Office hire her and then the City of Winder Police Department hire her. In both instances, Madison used the federal grant money to reimburse the local governments for his wife’s salary.
•Madison required some staff members to sign unusual employment contracts when he hired them. The contract included a provision that if the employee left Madison’s office before a certain length of time, 30-48 months on average, the employee had to pay “liquidated damages” of $2,000-$5,000. Several former staff members left the DA’s office and subsequently paid “liquidated damages,” but where those payments went isn’t clear.
•Madison reportedly mandated that at least one staff member pay part of a local salary back into a “training fund.” But the location of those funds is in doubt. The employee may have also been paid double full-time salaries, one by the state and another by a local government.
•Madison maintained at least six unaudited bank accounts in which he deposited court-mandated victims’ assistance funds and drug forfeiture funds. One account was in Madison’s personal name and that of a long-time staffer.
•Madison had been paying some DA employee wages, bonuses and supplements outside of the county government payroll systems, despite a 2002 warning by a Jackson County auditor to stop the practice.
•Madison spent some of the drug forfeiture money from Banks and Jackson counties on entertainment, travel and food for himself and some staff members.
