<p>A city councilman has surrendered to authorities on a misdemeanor charge of theft by taking.</p><p>Charles Haymon, 81, surrendered to Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents on Tuesday at the Barrow County Detention Center.</p><p>The arrest came a week after Winder police responded to an alarm at a vacant bank building the city had recently bought. Two packets of "bait" money had been left in the building, which was to serve as a new city hall. The bait money had packets of dye in them.</p><p>In the Aug. 24 incident, an officer noticed that one of the dye packets exploded in Haymon's pocket as he neared the door of the building. The officer then saw Haymon put the packets back into the vault.</p><p>Haymon was there with maintenance workers who were doing odd jobs at the building, Winder Mayor Buddy Ouzts said. Haymon tripped a silent alarm when he went into building's vault, where the bait money was.</p><p>The mayor was later informed of the incident and the GBI was called in to investigate.</p><p>John Bankhead, the GBI's public information officer, said police did not immediately arrest Haymon because the officer was unsure of whether Haymon had the authority to take money from the building.</p><p>Two days after that incident, Haymon brought about $20 to Winder City Hall and gave them to a clerk, saying he had taken the money from the bank building's vault.</p><p>After turning himself in Tuesday, Haymon was released on $1,000 bond.</p><p>Ouzts said he is not sure if Haymon's role as councilman will be affected by the case. The next step will be a meeting with the council's administrative committee to discuss it, he said.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x28662b4)</p>
