GBI asked to probe tax records in Hart County

HARTWELL - A northeast Georgia sheriff's department has requested help from state law officers to investigate allegations that someone tampered with property value information in the county tax assessor's computer system.

Authorities say Hart County Sheriff Mike Cleveland has asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to probe the discrepancies in the county's tax records.

Mike Fullington, special agent in charge of the GBI's Athens office, says the investigation is still in its early stages.

He says the GBI has been asked to look into some tax values that may have been changed without authorization.

Fullington said investigators are trying to determine whether anything criminal happened.