Tuesday, August 14, 2007
ONE MONTH AFTER FBI agents raided the chambers of the Alapaha Judicial Circuit’s chief judge in South Georgia, a court clerk in the circuit has pleaded guilty to felony mail fraud and quit his job. Also on Friday, Berrien County Sheriff Gerald W. “Jerry” Brogdon pleaded guilty to the illegal sale of firearms.
The court clerk, Daniel V. Leccese Sr. entered a guilty plea on one count of felony mail fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia on Friday. Leccese was released on his own recognizance and faces up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
On Monday, Leccese resigned as clerk of the Clinch County superior and state courts, said Clinch County Commission Vice Chairman Barry Hart.
Leccese was one of several Clinch County employees who had been paid, at the direction of Alapaha Chief Judge Brooks E. Blitch III, more than $60,000 without the county commission’s knowledge, Hart said. Leccese was also involved in setting up a secret bank account used to hold money collected by the imposition of fees on criminal defendants throughout the Alapaha Judicial Circuit.
Money from the secret bank account was used to pay county employees and to purchase a computer—all at the behest of Blitch and without knowledge of the county commission, Hart said. The Clinch County Commission became aware of the secret bank account in January.
Leccese’s attorney, Howard B. Slocumb of Homerville, declined to comment.
Blitch is not named in court filings in Leccese’s case. The filings refer to six co-conspirators who participated with Leccese in collecting the illegal fees. One court document refers to a Sept. 13, 2001, judicial order issued by “[co-conspirator] #1, a person whose identity is known to the U.S. Attorney,” to impose a $10 fee on criminal defendants. Hart, the Clinch County commissioner, last month told the Daily Report that Blitch issued the Sept. 13, 2001, judicial order, based on his review of judicial orders in the Clinch County courthouse.
Blitch and his attorney, Willis, Ferebee & Hutton partner Robert S. Willis of Jacksonville, Fla., did not return calls for comment.
Blitch is married to former state Sen. Peg Blitch, D-Homerville, who retired from the state Legislature in 2005. Blitch has been a superior court judge in the Alapaha circuit since 1980. He ran unopposed in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 elections.
This isn’t the first time that Clinch County officials have been in hot water over imposing illegal fees. A group of former inmates sued the county and Sheriff Winston Peterson in November 2004 for imposing a “room and board” fee of $18 per day on pre-trial detainees. The group reached a settlement with the county, which agreed to repay $27,000 to inmates who had paid the fees between 2000 and 2004. Peterson remains the sheriff of Clinch.
Sarah E. Geraghty, a staff attorney with the Southern Center for Human Rights, said she received a letter from U.S. Attorney Maxwell Wood last week asking to review her files in the Clinch inmate-fee case. Geraghty represented plaintiffs in the case, which was closed in April 2006.
Berrien Sheriff Brogdon on Friday pleaded guilty to in U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Georgia to one felony count of selling firearms to addicts, felons and fugitives. Brogdon resigned Friday.
Brogdon pleaded guilty to returning a firearm in March 2003 to Leonard Gray, who had previously been convicted of a felony.
Court filings in Brogdon’s case do not indicate a link to the Leccese case. The lead attorney for the government on both the Leccese and Brogdon cases is Assistant U.S. Attorney James N. Crane of Albany. Sue McKinney, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Middle District of Georgia, declined to comment whether the Leccese and Brogdon cases are related.
Brogdon’s attorney, Charles E. Cox Jr. of Macon, declined comment. Asked if the Brogdon and Leccese cases were related, Cox referred the question to the U.S. attorney’s office, although Cox said, “I’d be surprised if it was a coincidence. I suspect they were filed at the same time for a reason.”
Both Berrien and Clinch counties are located in the Alapaha Judicial Circuit.
Brogdon was replaced on an interim basis by Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk, said Berrien County Probate Judge Susan W. Griner. Paulk will be replaced as sheriff Aug. 23 by Berrien County Coroner Bob Lovein.
The cases are U.S.A. v. Leccese, No.07-cr-00021 (U.S. Dist., Middle District, filed Aug. 10, 2007); and U.S.A. v. Brogdon, No. 07-cr-00020 (U.S. Dist., Middle District, filed Aug. 10, 2007).
Labels: Misconduct
