One of 8 suspects in Muscogee Superior Court Clerk scandal pleads. More deals likely coming
The nephew of the former Muscogee Superior Court Clerk worker accused of stealing nearly $500,000 in government funds pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court, and other suspects in the case now have similar hearings set.
George Cook, 32, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bank fraud in the scheme in which his uncle Willie Demps allegedly wrote checks on clerk’s office accounts and had accomplices cash them at local banks, giving the money to Demps.
Cook is facing up to 30 years in prison, though prosecutors may recommend that be reduced in exchange for his cooperation in the case. He also has agreed to pay $215,196 in restitution to the clerk’s office.
U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land set Cook’s sentencing for 10 a.m. Feb. 15.
Cook and Demps were among eight suspects indicted in the scheme. The others were Terry McBride, Rosalee Bassi, Lamarcus Palmer, Samuel Cole, Curtis Porch and Dereen Porch, also known as Dereen Fitzgerald.
Court records show a “change of plea” hearing for McBride, Bassi, Palmer and Cole is set for 9:30 a.m. Oct. 5.
They’re accused of helping Demps pilfer at least $467,000 from accounts that Demps managed while working nearly 30 years for the clerk’s office, part of that time as chief deputy clerk.
Cook in his guilty plea admitted that between July 21, 2015, and Oct. 21, 2019, he cashed checks for Demps at least 60 times. The two usually met somewhere away from Demps’ Government Center office, then traveled to a bank where Demps waited in the parking lot while Cook cashed the checks, records show.
The accounts were at Synovus Bank, SunTrust Bank and Colony Bank.
Cook acknowledged also that Demps at one point gave him $1,400 in cash and had him wire the funds to someone in the Ivory Coast of Africa.
Where is the money?
In earlier court hearings, Assistant U.S. Attorney Melvin Hyde testified that significantly more government funds still are missing, and federal investigators have not been able to track that money down.
An FBI agent in August testified that out of $5.9 million in cash collected by the clerk’s office from 2010 to 2019, only $210 was deposited to office accounts.
Arrested Aug. 18, Demps and his codefendants were named in a 71-count indictment alleging wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and transporting stolen goods and money.
Demps, 63, is charged with stealing the nearly half-million in government funds in 2019, but Hyde said in August that authorities expect to seek a superseding indictment accusing him of taking a total of about $1.5 million.
Hyde, in a court motion, alleged that Demps “wired or caused to be wired over $500,000 to various locations in Africa” between 2010 and 2018. Among the countries cited were Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, Gabon and Gambia.
The frequency with which his alleged accomplices cashed checks also attracted notice. His indictment said bank workers started calling Demps to ask whether the checks were legitimate.
“At one financial institution, checks written by Demps were cashed with such frequency that the bank tellers had Demps’ direct phone line written on a cork board behind their teller stations,” said the indictment, which listed 114 checks cashed between Jan. 4, 2019, and Nov. 29, 2019, the amounts ranging from $2,125 to $9,725.