Ex- Crawford County, Georgia EMS Workers Accused Of Racketeering

Indictments of two former Crawford County employees were unsealed Friday, charging them with stealing more than $50,000 slated for Emergency Management Services.

Former Crawford County EMS director Ronnie Eugene Campbell Jr., 33, and former assistant director Redmond Thomas Hill IV, 27, each was indicted on a racketeering charge. The two men were arrested in February on charges related to billing the county for hours that employees never worked and then pocketing the money.

An indictment of Campbell's wife, Jennifer Silas Campbell, age unknown, also was unsealed Friday. The indictment charges her with felony theft by taking for allegedly helping her husband and Hill steal $5,500 in money donated to the EMS.

Sheriff Kerry Dunaway said Jennifer Campbell is expected to turn herself in at the Crawford County Jail within the next week.

Sheriff's officials discovered the trio's scheme after a part-time county employee realized his tax paperwork from Crawford County government was incorrect, Dunaway said Friday.

The $50,606.26 the three are accused of taking was from county coffers and donations from groups and private citizens, the sheriff said.

The Crawford County grand jury indicted the three on July 13, but the indictments were not signed by a judge or made official until Friday.

Superior Court records show that Ronnie Campbell and Hill conspired to bill the county for work that 11 part-time employees did not perform.

Dunaway said the EMS used part-time employees to run the ambulance service while full-time employees were off-duty.

Hill and Ronnie Campbell would deposit the checks into two bank accounts set up for Crawford County EMS donations, according to the indictment. They would then use the money for their own personal use, Dunaway said.

"To my knowledge, none of the money was used to buy anything substantial (for EMS)," Dunaway said.

There is no evidence the part-time employees were involved in the theft, Dunaway said.

The indictment shows the Campbells and Hill conspired to steal a $5,500 check from Flint Energies to help refurbish the EMS building.

Members of the Crawford County Sheriff's Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations traced the thefts from Jan. 17, 2003 until Feb. 6, 2004. Dunaway said the thefts began shortly after Campbell and Hill took over the finances for EMS.

"Before that time, the county oversaw the (EMS) finances," Dunaway said.

Ernie Cole, one of the part-time employees, discovered the theft when he received his W-2 statement earlier this year.

He took his complaint to Ronnie Campbell and then to the Crawford County commissioners.

"I saw something was wrong and I wanted to do something about it," said Cole. "Some of the county commissioners went to the sheriff and that's how it all started."

Cole said he had worked part-time in Crawford County for about six months, but had only worked four days during that time period.

According to the indictment, Campbell and Hill charged the county $2,392.93 for hours Cole never worked.

Cole declined to comment further about the case Friday.

The sheriff said both bank accounts in question were closed days before the sheriff's department became involved. All the money was gone by the time his office was notified, Dunaway said.

None of the money has been recovered.

Friday afternoon, shoppers in downtown Roberta said they were surprised it took a year for the thefts to come to light.

"This is a crazy county," said Dana Hortman, who has lived in Crawford County on and off for more than 20 years.

Cora Lewis, a former Crawford County resident who now lives in Lizella, said anyone who steals county funds should have to pay them back.

"I really think they should determine how it happened and what they can do to prevent it from happening again," Lewis said.