‘There is much, much more.’ Ex-Columbus court clerk likely stole over $1M in scheme, feds say
Out of $5.9 million in cash collected by the Muscogee County Superior Court Clerk’s office from 2010 to 2019, only $210 was deposited to office accounts, an FBI agent testified Wednesday in the fraud case against former chief deputy clerk Willie Demps.
Arrested Aug. 18, Demps is among eight suspects named in a 71-count federal indictment alleging wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and transporting stolen goods and money. He worked for 30 years in the clerk’s office.
The 63-year-old had a detention hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Hyles where FBI Special Agent Kate Furtak testified to some of the evidence investigators have uncovered.
Demps so far faces charges he stole more than $467,000 in government funds in 2019 while supervising deposits and bank accounts for the clerk’s office, taking blank checks from the clerk’s office and writing them to accomplices who cashed the checks at Columbus banks.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Melvin Hyde told Hyles that investigators have found that much more money is missing, and authorities expect to seek a superseding indictment accusing Demps of taking a total of about $1.5 million.
“There is much, much more,” Hyde said of the missing funds.
The federal investigation is ongoing, but so far authorities don’t know what happened to the funds still unaccounted for, he said.
Wiring money across the world
Hyles decided Demps is a flight risk, so he will remain held in the Lee County Detention Center in Opelika, Alabama, where he was jailed last week after agents arrested him at an apartment he rented in Smiths Station.
Hyde had filed a detention motion last week saying Demps could flee prosecution, having “wired or caused to be wired over $500,000 to various locations in Africa” between 2010 and 2018.
Under Hyde’s questioning Wednesday, Furtak testified Demps had sent money to various countries overseas. “The money primarily went to Africa, and Cameroon specifically.
Other countries included Nigeria, Senegal, Gabon, Gambia, Ecuador and Canada, Furtek said. Forty individuals received the funds, she said.
He sent money with such frequency that wire service Western Union eventually refused his business, suspecting he was involved in money laundering.
Demps then began having others wire money for him, or sent it through another service or from his own Kinetic account here in Columbus, Furtek said.
She said the FBI has been working with the IRS, which has found that the most income Demps has reported for taxation was $38,531 in 2019, though records show he gained about $1 million from 2010 to 2019.
Hyde argued the amount of money missing, and the mystery of where it all went, in light of Demps’ ties to contacts overseas, was enough to warrant keeping him in jail.
“We don’t know where it is,” Hyde said of the money. “We don’t know what his plans are.”
Demps was represented by attorney Charlie Cox of Macon, who told Hyles that Demps has been married to a woman from Cameroon for at least 10 years, and the couple has relatives in Nigeria.
He noted that Demps long has known he was under investigation, as federal agents interviewed his wife in November and questioned Demps on March 31, warning him he faced indictment and arrest. Yet Demps has not fled from the area, Cox said.
Shortly before his arrest last week, agents called and told him they were coming for him, and asked whether he would surrender or possibly force authorities to handcuff him in front of his children. Demps replied that he would surrender if agents had a warrant.
Having shown no signs of absconding, Demps could wear an ankle monitor to ensure he did not leave the area, were he released, Cox argued.
Hyles said the evidence indicates no condition of release would guarantee Demps came to future court proceedings.
As the hearing concluded, the judge asked whether anyone was present to represent the Superior Court Clerk’s office, the victim in Demps case.
No one stood.
“Amazing,” the judge said. “That’s absolutely amazing, but so be it.”
Superior Court Clerk Danielle Forte, who last week said she asked for an audit and investigation when she took office in 2018, sent the Ledger-Enquirer a text Wednesday afternoon, saying she was not free to comment on the case.
“As you may be aware, this continues to be an active criminal case and is now full-scale,” she wrote. “Most importantly, so as to not interfere with any outcome, I’ve been asked not to comment on the case by the U.S. Attorneys’ office.”
The alleged scheme
Federal investigators said Demps was in charge of depositing court funds derived from felony and misdemeanor fines, forfeitures and condemnations. The money went into accounts the clerk’s office had at Synovus Financial Corp., SunTrust Bank and Colony Bank.
Such payments frequently were made in cash, says his indictment.
It says Demps took blank office checks, wrote them to codefendants and signed them. He then met his accomplices in the Government Center parking lot or at a specified bank to give them the checks, and collected the money after the checks were cashed, with the codefendants receiving a cut, the indictment says.
It says this happened so often that bank workers started calling Demps to ask whether the checks were legitimate. The indictment lists 114 checks cashed between Jan. 4, 2019, and Nov. 29, 2019, the amounts ranging from $2,125 to $9,725.
Others named in the indictment are Terry McBride, Rosalee Bassi, Lamarcus Palmer, George Cook, Samuel Cole, Curtis Porch and Dereen Porch, also known as Dereen Fitzgerald.
This story was originally published August 25, 2021 at 12:20 PM.