by: Martin StauntonSAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) – The disgraced former chief clerk of Chatham County’s probate court is facing a new set of charges.
Kim Birge will finish her 2015 federal sentence on mail fraud in
December 29, 2019, and January 2020 will bring a new trial on dozens of
state charges being brought by the District Attorney. Birge returned to
Chatham County for a bond hearing and arraignment in connection with the
new local case in Superior Court Thursday afternoon.
There are 39 charges being leveled against the 65-year-old, including
racketeering, theft by taking, and violation of oath by a public
officer.
The indictment alleges Birge forged and altered paperwork to steal
money between January 2009 and June 2011. Birge had access to bank
accounts controlled by the probate court and the crimes alleged in the
state’s case were reportedly uncovered after her federal conviction in
2015.
Birge’s bond was set at $50,000, but she remains in custody to finish
serving her sentence on her federal conviction after pleading guilty.
Her trial is expected to begin sometime in January after her release
from the federal women’s prison in Alderson, West Virginia in late
December.
There is a motion hearing in this case scheduled before Judge David
L. Cavender at 9:30 am on November 25, 2019. The trial docket call is
December 16, 2019, but is expected to be pushed back to the New Year,
after Birge completes her federal prison sentence.
Full Article & Source:
Disgraced Chatham County Chief Probate Clerk faces new charges
See Also:
Former Probate Court clerk Kim Birge returned from federal prison to face local charges
Chatham County prosecutors charge former Probate Court Clerk Kim Birge in theft scheme
Attorney tells jury Kim Birge stole more than $1 million from Savannah victims
Former clerk Kim Birge sentenced to six years in federal custody, ordered to make restitution
UPDATE: Ex-Probate clerk Kim Birge to plead guilty in theft case on Friday
Kim Birge pleads not guilty to Probate Court fraud charges
Former Probate Court clerk Kim Birge indicted in theft of more than $700,000 from the court
Showing posts with label former Probate court clerk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label former Probate court clerk. Show all posts
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Sunday, August 11, 2019
Former Probate Court clerk Kim Birge returned from federal prison to face local charges
Chatham County Sheriff John Wilcher said Friday his deputies returned Birge, 65, from a federal prison in West Virginia to the local jail about 4 p.m. Thursday.
And defense attorney Steve Sparger said Friday that Birge has a court appearance on Thursday before Senior Superior Court Judge David Cavender where she is expected to be arraigned on the new charges.
Cavender also is expected to hear Sparger’s bond motion for Birge, the attorney said.
The visiting judge is handling the case after the six Chatham County Superior Court judges recused themselves.
Birge is nearing the end of her six-year prison sentence imposed in 2015 for her guilty plea to stealing $223,000 from the Probate Court.
Her scheduled release date is Dec. 29, 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prison database. The same database reported Birge was not in Bureau of Prison’s custody on Friday.
As part of her federal sentence from U.S. District Judge William T. Moore, Birge must serve a three-year supervised release term after completion of her federal custody sentence.
Meanwhile, the Chatham County grand jury on May 29 returned a 39-count indictment including violation of her oath as a public officer for alleged theft of funds from accounts in her office over a two-year period.
The indictment charged the Birge “pleaded guilty in federal court to charges related to the dummy accounts,” but “has not faced any criminal charges related to the earlier activity of theft and fraud on individual existing accounts, disbursement, and expenditures.”
It then named Birge in separate theft by taking counts for each victim with sums of with a greater or less than value of $500, but did not give a total sum taken
Chatham County Assistant District Attorney Scott Robichaux, who obtained the indictment and will prosecute the charges, filed documents with federal officials to have Birge returned for the local prosecution.
The new indictment charged Birge with racketeering activity by obtaining interest in and control of real estate and personal property by improperly managing Probate Court funds and accounts by forging or altering documents related to disbursements and expenditures for her personal use.
It said her scheme grew from early racketeering involving stealing from existing accounts to “become more sophisticated and created dummy accounts into which she would initially deposit and then take the monies from these dummy accounts.”
Full Article & Source:
Former Probate Court clerk Kim Birge returned from federal prison to face local charges
See Also:
Attorney tells jury Kim Birge stole more than $1 million from Savannah victims
Former clerk Kim Birge sentenced to six years in federal custody, ordered to make restitution
UPDATE: Ex-Probate clerk Kim Birge to plead guilty in theft case on Friday
Kim Birge pleads not guilty to Probate Court fraud charges
Former Probate Court clerk Kim Birge indicted in theft of more than $700,000 from the court
Saturday, June 1, 2019
Chatham County prosecutors charge former Probate Court Clerk Kim Birge in theft scheme
Former Chatham County Probate Court Clerk Kim Birge on Wednesday was indicted on 39 counts including racketeering, theft by taking and violation of her oath as a public officer for alleged thefts from accounts in her office over a two-year-period.
The indictment returned by the Chatham County grand jury identified 18 individual who were alleged victims between Jan. 1, 2009, and June 30, 2011, and it is the first time Birge has been charged in a state court proceeding.
Birge, 64, is currently serving a six-year federal sentence imposed in 2015 for her guilty plea to stealing $223,000 from the Probate Court.
The new charges, obtained on evidence presented by Chatham County Assistant District Attorney Scott Robichaux, charged Birge with racketeering activity by obtaining interest in and control of real estate and personal property by improperly managing Probate Court funds and accounts by forging or altering documents related to disbursements and expenditures for her personal use.
It said her scheme grew from early racketeering involving stealing from existing accounts to “become more sophisticated and created dummy accounts into which she would initially deposit and then tqke the monies from these dummy accounts.”
The indictment charged the Birge “pleaded guilty in federal court to charges related to the dummy accounts,” but “has not faced any criminal charges related to the earlier activity of theft and fraud on individual existing accounts, disbursement, and expenditures.”
It then named Birge in separate theft by taking counts for each victim with sums of with a greater or less than value of $500, but did not give a total sum taken.
The indictment theft charged Birge with violating her oath by a public officer with the Probate Court in that she did swear to “well and faithfully discharge the duties of the Chief Clerk of Probate Court (of Chatham County) ... and I will receive only legal fees.”
The indictment stated the alleged illegal activity was unknown to the state until on or about Jan. 4 2017, and is thus excluded from the statute of limitations.
Wednesday’s action was the latest against Birge.
As recently as two weeks ago in Chatham County State Court, Birge agreed to provide half of her contested county retirement to 11 plaintiffs to settle a civil case.
At issue in the civil case were mental pain and suffering after the 11 victims learns the money was gone from Probate Court, punitive damages and attorneys’ fee in what plaintiff attorney Brent Savage contended was more than $409,000 that Birge took from his clients over at least a four-year period.
And Chatham County Director of Internal Audits Jeannie Alday testified that her expanded review of Probate Court ledgers and related records uncovered about 80 victims, not the 42 earlier identified, between 2009 and 2014.
Total thefts from the court totaled “right at $1 million” plus $190,000 involving another estate, she said.
In October 2015, Birge was sentenced in federal court to six years in prison and ordered to make restitution of more than $751,000 for her admissions to stealing $232,000 from Chatham County Probate Court.
She remains incarcerated in a West Virginia prison, but is expected to be released next year.
At her sentencing hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Scarlett Nokes told Moore that despite Birge’s battles with both drugs since 2008 and gambling excesses since 2003, she did not seek help until her crimes were discovered.
The case was in court because Birge victimized people who were trusting her to do her job, Nokes said.
Under the terms of her negotiated plea with the government, Birge pleaded guilty to count three of a five-count indictment, charging her with mail fraud and federal program fraud in the scheme the government said lasted between January 2011 and November 2011.
But under federal sentencing guidelines, probation officers can consider all alleged misconduct — including dismissed counts — in reaching their recommendations to the judge.
During Birge’s appearance in court, the judge said he found it a mystery that the 342 checks she had written to cash, 322 were checks for less than $3,000 and only 20 in excess of that number.
When Moore suggested that her conduct suggested she had a reason for the check sums, Birge responded, “I didn’t try to hide anything from anyone. ... Much of the time I didn’t know what I was doing.
“I can’t explain why I did what I did, and I’m sorry and I just pray for mercy.”
Full Article & Source:
Chatham County prosecutors charge former Probate Court Clerk Kim Birge in theft scheme
See Also:
Attorney tells jury Kim Birge stole more than $1 million from Savannah victims
Former clerk Kim Birge sentenced to six years in federal custody, ordered to make restitution
UPDATE: Ex-Probate clerk Kim Birge to plead guilty in theft case on Friday
Kim Birge pleads not guilty to Probate Court fraud charges
Former Probate Court clerk Kim Birge indicted in theft of more than $700,000 from the court
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Attorney tells jury Kim Birge stole more than $1 million from Savannah victims
Those sums were among the $1 million Birge stole from the court over an eight-year period from children who had lost their parents, the elderly or physically injured or mentally handicapped, attorney Brent Savage told a Chatham County State Court jury empaneled to hear the civil case.
Included among those victims were several people who lost their husbands and fathers in the Feb. 8, 2008, fire and explosion at the Savannah Sugar Refinery in Port Wentworth that killed 14 and injured dozens more.
But attorney Walter Ballew, who represents Birge, told the jurors that people who knew Birge were “shocked by her conduct” which he blamed on opioid and gambling addictions that spun out of control.
If you were going to steal, Ballew told jurors, “You don’t keep it, and you don’t tell anybody.”
Testimony begins May 14 before visiting Senior State Court Judge Orin Douglass and the jury.
Federal court conviction
Birge, 64, was not in court. She remains incarcerated in a federal prison in West Virginia where she is serving a six-year term after pleading guilty in federal court on July 31, 2015, to stealing $232,000 from the Probate Court as part of a scheme in which the government said she stole more than $750,000 over a three-year period.
She also was ordered to make restitution of more than $750,000 for her admission to stealing $232,000 from the Probate Court. As part of the plea to the mail fraud count, prosecutors dismissed the remaining counts in the indictment.
U.S. District Judge William T. Moore, Jr., said 36 victims suffered actual losses, adding that none of the funds ever belonged to the court. He set the actual restitution in the case at $751,715.95.
Chatham County officials contend Birge stole $890,000 from individuals and another $113,000 from Chatham County.
Then Probate Judge Harris Lewis placed Birge on investigative suspension without pay Nov. 20, 2014, during a probe of “discrepancies ” in the court. She was fired on Dec. 2, 2014.
Civil court opening statements
Savage, using a series of enlarged exhibits, told jurors that the case was not about whether Birge stole the money or how much, but about damages for pain and suffering after victims found out the money was gone from the court, punitive damages to punish and deter past and future conduct and attorney’s fees.
He said the largest sum taken from his clients was $236,384 from Matthew Drayton, then age 9, whose mother died of a heart attack.
“She pockets it and it’s their money,” he told jurors.
With that money, Birge traveled to Las Vegas 10 times; Florida, at least 50 times; and Biloxi, Mississippi.
And, he added, Birge put her residence in a trust to herself in 2010.
He said the first knowledge of Birge’s activities was in 2008 when she stole $190,000 from the estate of a man.
When she was asked on deposition if she had abused the office of chief clerk, Savage said she responded, “Those are your words... I will have to think about it.’”
Savage told jurors the case would be completed in two days, but that it has taken five years to get to this point.
The veteran of 37 years with the court was the “primary breadwinner” for her family who suffered from her own health issues that required pain killers that, over time, she became addicted to, Ballew said.
She was also a “pathological gambler” whose “life began to spiral downward.”
Birge was writing checks for $2,900 payable to cash more than 200 times, some two times a day. “No reasonable person can think they are going to get away with that,” Ballew said. “She’s been punished. She is sorry, very sorry.”
Full Article & Source:
Attorney tells jury Kim Birge stole more than $1 million from Savannah victims
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