State charges remain in PSA investigation

Dec. 14—It's been more than four years since an investigation revealed millions of dollars missing from the Camden County Public Service Authority (PSA), the department responsible for running the county's parks and recreation programs.

Col. Chuck Byerly, an investigator with the Camden County Sheriff's Office, said the only conviction so far has been against William Brunson, the former PSA director, on federal income tax evasion charges.

No state charges have been filed against Brunson or three others who were arrested for their alleged role in the theft of more than $3.5 million over a 15-year period from 2002 until 2017. The concern is others allegedly involved with the thefts won't face charges because prosecutors let the statute of limitations expire, Byerly said.

"I have begged, pleaded and written to get these charges filed," he said.

Brunson allegedly crumpled up and tossed in the trash letters in 2017 to his office from the Internal Revenue Service demanding unpaid back taxes owed by the board dating back at least four years. It was the IRS complaints that led to the discovery of the problems and subsequent investigation.

Keith Higgins, district attorney for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, had to recuse himself and all the prosecutors in his office from the case because he had represented former Mike Fender, former Camden County chief financial officer, in a previous legal matter, Byerly said.

Fender and his wife, Carolyn Fender, were arrested for allegedly receiving about $500,000 in fictitious grant money for their school, Advance Learning Center, now located in St. Marys. Byerly said monthly cash payments of $17,000 in alleged grant money were paid by Brunson to the Fenders.

A fourth suspect, Shawnta Jenkins, the former PSA assistant director, was also arrested for her alleged role in the missing funds. She was charged with felony theft by deception, conspiracy to defraud a political subdivision and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Byerly said the district attorney's office in Waycross was given the case against Jenkins and William and Carolyn Brunson, and the district attorney's office in Savannah is handling the state charges against Brunson.

Fender said the case is voluminous, but it's "not complicated."

He has contacted the office of the Georgia attorney general to get a special prosecutor to handle the case since it would be more difficult to prosecute them in separate jurisdictions.

"I don't see how you can sever these cases because they are so intertwined," he said of his request for a special prosecutor. "That would be the ideal solution."

Byerly said six to eight additional charges are pending, including against people not already charged in the case. He didn't rule out some former PSA board members as possible targets.

"Just get me in front of a grand jury," Byerly said.

The Georgia Attorney General Office did not return a call Tuesday by The News to learn the status of the request.

According to the investigation, Brunson had a county vehicle and filled up the vehicle at the county gas pumps, but he still charged the county for mileage. Over the 17-year period without an audit, Byerly said those mileage checks totaled $202,000. Brunson also allegedly charged the county $260,000 for tin that was never purchased, and he claimed paying $53,000 for meals for high school athletic teams that Byerly said were never purchased. He also claimed $357,000 in untold reimbursements.

Byerly said Brunson thought his employees weren't getting paid enough, so he gave them at least an additional $200 per paycheck in cash. Some employees were paid as much as $4,000, Byerly said.

Brunson also quit paying for employee health insurance premiums until a claim for an employee's wife's cancer treatment was denied. Luckily for the woman, the insurance provider agreed to cover the treatment if the county got caught up on the health insurance premiums for all the employees, he said.

Paychecks for PSA employees also started bouncing and continued to do so for an extended period until the bank starting charging overdraft charges. It cost the county $6,000 to cover the fees, Byerly said.

Even though annual audits were required by law, the PSA Board, made up of elected officials from the county and St. Marys, Woodbine and Kingsland, never asked for one.

"They were required by law," he said.

St. Marys Mayor John Morrissey, a PSA Board member since 2014, said the concept of an audit was never broached by the board. Morrissey said he thought an audit of the PSA was part of the annual Camden County audit since it's a county department. The board's focus was on programs and the annual budget.

"An audit was never raised," he said. "The county government has its own audit."

Since the arrests, Morrissey said board members have been "in the process of the financial cleanup."

"It's been a big labor," he said. "We were nonplussed."