FC Chamber secretary charged: Cindy Smith accused of theft of $70,000 in missing funds

Former Franklin County Chamber of Commerce Executive Secretary Cindy Smith was arrested on July 11. Smith has been charged with one count of theft by taking and four counts of forgery.

On May 13, the Franklin County Sheriff's Department was contacted to conduct an investigation due to an allegation of misappropriation of funds from the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce and Industrial Building Authority's checking accounts.

“One of the supervisors saw something that raised a question in his mind,” said Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Jim Fullington. “The supervisor asked Mrs. Smith about it and her answer raised more questions. After looking at more of their statements, they asked the Franklin County Sheriff's Department to do an investigation.”

Franklin County Sheriff Steve Thomas said on May 13 he and Northern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Robert Lavender requested the GBI conduct the investigation due to local governmental funds being at issue.

“Once we were informed of the allegation, I feel like we did the proper thing,” Thomas said. “Since county money was in question, I felt like it was best for GBI to handle the investigation to help eliminate any potential conflicts of interest.”

Since May, an audit has been conducted to determine if any amounts of funds were missing from the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce and Industrial Building Authority. Due to the auditors having to pull several years of bank records, the audit was not completed until this month. The audit revealed just over $70,000 in funds were unaccounted for and the theft of these funds took place between December 2005 and May 2008.

“The chamber had some procedures in place to try to ensure money was spent properly,” Fullington said. “They required two signatures on all checks. Mrs. Smith was forging the other signature.”

Fullington also said the investigation revealed that no one else had any knowledge or involvement of the thefts.

“During the investigation, we interviewed both Mrs. Smith and her husband, Gary Smith, who is the jail administrator of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office,” Fullington said. “There was no indication he was involved or knew what was going on.”

Smith turned herself in at 2 p.m. on July 11. Later the same day, she was bonded by the magistrate judge and released on a $70,000 property bond.

“The whole situation is unfortunate for the county and the families involved,” said Franklin County Chamber of Commerce President Bruce Knighton. “I feel like we did what we needed to do. The chamber is continuing to operate as usual and fulfilling our obligations to the county. Hopefully, this will all be straightened out quickly.”