FCS RICO defendants re-indicted
♦ There are 307 counts in the Floyd County Schools fraud case with 13 defendants charged.
The Floyd County Grand Jury has returned a true bill of indictment against 13 defendants in the years-old RICO investigation into allegations of fraud against the Floyd County Schools.
According to the 307-count indictment filed Friday, Derry Scott Richardson is accused of using his position as the school system’s maintenance director to steal millions of dollars from the public schools — and he included family, friends and coworkers in the ongoing scheme.
Conspirators are accused of creating inflated, and in some cases completely fraudulent, invoices for both construction and maintenance projects.
Multiple people have been charged with RICO violations and other charges in the case.
Family members charged along with Derry Richardson are his wife, Lisa Richardson; his father, Jimmy Richardson; and his brother Dwayne Richardson.
Also charged are Russell David Burkhalter, Samuel Max Tucker, Harry Anthony Bailey, Robert Chad Watson, Charles Raiden Sherman, David Gary English, Rodney Don Holder, Sam Sprewell and James David Fielder.
Two men who were originally accused in the case — William Greg Mccary and Robert Mitchell Anderson — are deceased.
Each are charged with a minimum of four counts: conspiring to and acquiring money through a pattern of racketeering activity; conspiring to and participating in an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity.
A number of the defendants also are facing numerous counts of theft by taking, bribery and theft by receiving stolen property — all felonies.
While a majority of those accused were arrested in 2016, the criminal case only began to move forward in 2018 after a civil case wrapped up. The civil case essentially ended with the school system recovering about $3.5 million of the estimated $6.33 million siphoned off over 10 years by employees and contractors.
Pending appeal
An appeal concerning a judge’s ruling to allow the district attorney to dismiss two flawed indictments in the Floyd County Schools’ RICO case is expected to be heard in the Georgia Court of Appeals in April.
A brief of the appellant’s arguments was filed on Dec. 13 with the appellate court and concerns whether or not Floyd County Superior Court Judge Jack Niedrach should have allowed District Attorney Leigh Patterson to dismiss the two indictments.
On Aug. 12, Niedrach ruled that the DA could drop both indictments, which allowed for a six-month period in which to re-indict. Attorneys for defendants in the case argued the court should have thrown out both indictments.
The distinction between dropping the indictments and having the court throw them out boils down to whether or not the case would continue. Prosecutors get two chances to re-indict if their indictment is thrown out by a judge, however they may dismiss charges and re-indict as many times as they need to.