North Georgia newspaper publisher arrested over open records
Jul 5, 2016 0:51:25 GMT -6
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Post by Logan on Jul 5, 2016 0:51:25 GMT -6
Last week a North Georgia newspaper publisher was indicted on a felony charge and jailed overnight for filing an open-records request.
The AJC reported on Friday that Fannin Focus publisher Mark Thomason and his attorney Russell Stookey were arrested and charged with attempted identity fraud and identity fraud. The newspaper publisher was also accused of making a false statement in his records request.
Thomason has reportedly been relentless in the pursuit of public records relating to the local Superior Court and has therefore outraged the court’s chief judge, Brenda Weaver, who also chairs the state Judicial Qualifications Commission. At which point Weaver obtained the indictments.
On June 24th Thomason was charged with making a false statement in an open-records request in which he requested copies of checks “cashed illegally.” Thomason and his attorney, Stookey, were also charged with identity fraud as well as attempted identity fraud because they did not obtain Weaver’s approval prior to sending subpoenas to banks where Weaver and another judge kept accounts for office expenses.
Read more: evans.allongeorgia.com/north-georgia-newspaper-publisher-arrested-over-open-records-request/
The AJC reported on Friday that Fannin Focus publisher Mark Thomason and his attorney Russell Stookey were arrested and charged with attempted identity fraud and identity fraud. The newspaper publisher was also accused of making a false statement in his records request.
Thomason has reportedly been relentless in the pursuit of public records relating to the local Superior Court and has therefore outraged the court’s chief judge, Brenda Weaver, who also chairs the state Judicial Qualifications Commission. At which point Weaver obtained the indictments.
On June 24th Thomason was charged with making a false statement in an open-records request in which he requested copies of checks “cashed illegally.” Thomason and his attorney, Stookey, were also charged with identity fraud as well as attempted identity fraud because they did not obtain Weaver’s approval prior to sending subpoenas to banks where Weaver and another judge kept accounts for office expenses.
Read more: evans.allongeorgia.com/north-georgia-newspaper-publisher-arrested-over-open-records-request/