Ex-Clayton commissioner pleads guilty to filing false reports

He failed to report $14,000 in campaign contributions.

A former Clayton County commissioner has pleaded guilty to filing false campaign disclosure reports, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced Tuesday.

Wole Ralph was sentenced to 24 months of probation under Georgia’s First Offender Act for failing to report a total of about $14,000 in campaign contributions, which is a violation of the Ethics in Government Act. The attorney general’s office teamed with the Clayton County District Attorney’s office on the case.

“Mr. Ralph knowingly violated the Ethics in Government Act, and for that, he must face the consequences,” Carr said.

Ralph became the subject of the investigation after the state ethics commission unanimously concluded in December 2015 that he had violated campaign finance laws.

Ralph was required to file campaign contribution disclosure reports with the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission. The reports list the amounts of campaign contributions received and spent.

Ralph was accused of filing numerous false reports between 2011 and 2012 in which he received about $142,000 in campaign contributions but only reported about $37,000, according to the attorney general’s office.

Ralph must perform 100 hours of community service as a condition of his probation.