Woman sentenced in Muscogee Superior Court clerk scandal, husband’s case delayed
Another defendant involved in the Muscogee Superior Court clerk scandal orchestrated by former supervisor Willie Demps has been sentenced in federal court.
Prosecutors have said that Demps, who worked 30 years for the clerk’s office and managed court funds, likely stole up to $7 million over his time there.
The defendant sentenced Tuesday was Dereen Porch, 44, who besides participating in Demps’ 2019 scheme to cash checks fraudulently written on clerk’s office accounts, also was charged in a scam to obtain unauthorized COVID-19 relief funds.
She pleaded guilty Nov. 30, 2021, to two counts of wire fraud for making false claims for economic impact disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration for losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities said.
In the court clerk scandal, she pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud.
U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land sentenced her to 21 months in prison plus five years of supervised release, and ordered her to pay $72,842 in restitution in the court clerk scandal and $230,300 in restitution to the Small Business Administration in the COVID relief case.
Her husband Curtis Porch, 48, faces similar charges, but his sentencing was postponed to June 29, because his attorney was out of town.
Other sentencings
Having pleaded guilty Feb. 2 to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and two counts of tax evasion, Demps, 64, was sentenced June 2 to 145 months in prison, plus five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $1,323,045 in restitution to the clerk’s office, and $359,604 to the IRS.
Authorities said Demps wrote 330 fraudulent checks totaling $1.3 million between Oct. 19, 2010 and Nov. 27, 2019, and deposited only $210 out of $5.5 million in cash paid to the clerk’s office over those years.
He managed funds for which he was authorized to write checks on Superior Court Clerk accounts at area banks, and recruited others to help him cash those checks. He took blank checks, wrote them to his accomplices and signed them, before they took the checks to be cashed.
The accounts he oversaw held court funds derived from felony and misdemeanor fines, forfeitures and condemnations. The accounts were at Synovus Financial Corp., SunTrust Bank and Colony Bank.
He was among six defendants sentenced June 2. Here are the others:
- Rosalee Bassi, 66, of Phenix City, Demps’ mother-in-law, was sentenced to five years of supervised release and ordered to pay $61,896 in restitution.
- Lamarcus Palmer, 35, of Smiths Station, Alabama, was sentenced to a year of supervised release and ordered to pay $12,606 in restitution.
- Terry McBride, 45, of Smiths Station, was sentenced to 24 months in prison plus five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $299,285 in restitution.
- George Cook, 33, of Columbus, Demps’ nephew, was sentenced to one day in prison, with credit for the day served upon his arrest, plus five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $215,196 in restitution.
- Samuel Cole, 73, of Columbus, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $378,020 in restitution.