Disgraced Chatham County Chief Probate Clerk faces new charges

by: Martin Staunton

SAVANNAH, 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

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Former Probate Court clerk Kim Birge returned from federal prison to face local charges

Former Chatham County Probate Court Clerk Kim Birge was returned to the Chatham County jail on Thursday for her first court appearance next week on new local charges including racketeering and theft of court funds.

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 identified 18 individuals 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.

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

Chatham County prosecutors charge former Probate Court Clerk Kim Birge in theft scheme

By Jan Skutch

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.

Then-Probate Judge Harris Lewis fired Birge on Dec. 2, 2014, in what was described as “in the best interests” of the court. He had placed Birge on investigative suspension without pay Nov. 20, 2014, during a probe of “discrepancies with the services that you are responsible for handling,” Lewis said in a termination letter.

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.

U.S. District Judge William T. Moore Jr. also ordered Birge, then 61, to serve three years supervised release after completion of her custody term but imposed no fine citing her inability to pay.

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