A former Chief Magistrate Judge in Pickens County has been prosecuted nearly a year and a half after his arrest.
Attorney General Chris Carr announced today in a release that the office’s Prosecution Division has concluded its case against Judge William “Allen” Wigington.
He was found guilty of one count of racketeering, three counts of fourth-degree forgery, five counts of theft by taking, 39 counts of unauthorized use of a financial transaction card, and one count of violation of oath of office. In total, his crimes amounted to 44 felonies and five misdemeanors.
Wigington was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He will serve five years in custody and will spend the rest of the sentence on probation.
"Mr. Wigington violated the public's trust in the worst way, and he will now serve time for his deceitful behavior,” Carr said. “… The theft of taxpayer funds will not go unpunished, and we will continue to root out this type of public corruption in our state.”
A joint investigation was launched by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Pickens County Sheriff’s Office in 2019 they discovered that Wigington had been using his county-issued credit card to purchase thousands of dollars of personal items from Amazon.
The investigation also revealed that he had been double-billing the county for travel reimbursements. Wigington also stole $200 that was designated to purchase a suit for a child whose family could not afford to purchase it.
