A Pickens County Magistrate judge has been arrested Wednesday evening for multiple incidents of Theft and Violation of Oath of Office.
According to the Pickens County Sheriff's Office, Pickens County Chief Magistrate Judge Allen Wigington was arrested following a review of financial documents for Pickens County in mid-December 2019.
During the review of these documents, questionable spending activity on the Pickens County credit card issued to Wigington was identified, according to a post on the sheriff office's Facebook.
Picken's County Sheriff Donnie Craig said after an initial review, he reached out to the Appalachian Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s office to discuss the findings. Following this, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was requested to assist with further investigation.
"Investigators further learned of an additional situation involving a local nonprofit organization, where Wigington served as the Treasurer. In this case, it was found that Wigington had taken funds from the nonprofit organization to pay personal debts," Craig said. "It was determined that Wigington then attempted to remedy this action by taking funds from the Magistrate Office to reimburse the nonprofit organization."
Following the investigation that had been ongoing for more than a month, on Wednesday, January 29th, at approximately 3:30 p.m., the Georgia Bureau of Investigation executed a search warrant at Wigington’s office to gather further evidence for the case.
Warrants for Judge Wigington’s arrest were obtained by the GBI. Shortly after, Wigington turned himself into the Pickens County Adult Detention Center at 7:30 p.m. and is currently on a $50,000 bond.
He now faces multiple charges: 3 counts of Unauthorized Use of Financial Transaction Card, 6 counts of Theft by Taking and 1 count of Violation of Oath by Public Officer.
The case remains under investigation according to law enforcement.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2020/1/871873/pickens-county-judge-charged-with-theft-and-violation-of-oath-of-office