June 2 marked three years since a husband and wife were arrested for alleged theft from the Boys & Girls Club of Bulloch County, but the case has seen little movement for nearly 21 months.
Background
In 2023, the Boys & Girls Club of Bulloch County asked the Statesboro Police Department to investigate allegations of financial improprieties involving the former CEO, Michael Edgar Jones, and former bookkeeper, Leslie Jones. The police department said probable cause was developed to charge the husband and wife duo with felony Theft by Taking. The two were booked into the Bulloch County Jail on June 2 and bonded out the same day.
Warrants filed in the clerk’s office revealed that the couple was charged with taking $62,556.12 between January 1, 2021 and May 2, 2023. The funds were allegedly taken from an Operating Account and a Grant Funding Account. Specifically, the warrant stated that Leslie Jones, in her capacity as bookkeeper and in violation of the law, did ‘aid and assist Mike Jones, her husband and CEO of the Boys & Girls Club, take money and services valued at $62,556.12.’
A year later, in May 2024 and under then-District Attorney Daphne Totten, a Bulloch County grand jury returned a True Bill of Indictment for the pair on one count of Theft by Taking (felony) and two counts of Theft by Conversion.
Motion to Quash Indictment
In July 2024, defense attorneys filed motions to quash the indictments against both Jones’. Michael Jones is represented by Savannah attorney Steven Beauvais while Leslie Jones is represented by Millen attorney Duff Ayers.
The Motions take issue with the lack of specificity in the counts of the indictment. Specifically that:
- Count 1 “merely states” that the defendants, between January 1, 2021 and May 2, 2023, took “U.S. Currency in the amount of $25,000 or more” and offers no specific dates that the alleged crimes occurred.
- Count 2 and 3 “merely state” that the defendants “failed to relinquish ‘electronic devices’ to the Boys and Girls club of Bulloch County between January 1, 2021 and May 2, 2023, and also converted labor and services between these dates, to the benefit of someone other than the Boys and Girls Club of Bulloch County.” Attorneys argue the indictment fails to identify in any manner the property and/or labor and services converted.
Without specific details about what the victim allegedly suffered or how the defendants allegedly injured the victim, the defendants, attorneys wrote, cannot adequately prepare a defense to the charges. Attorneys contended that this is a violation of federal and state Constitutional Due process rights.
Superior Court Judge Michael Muldrew heard oral arguments on the motion on September 11, 2024 but has yet to rule on the Motion to Quash the Indictment.
The cases were placed on the calendar for Calendar Call in Superior Court on October 9, 2024, January 15, 2025, February 28, 2025, May 1, 2025 and October 2, 2025. Each time, the cases were continued to the next court date. The October 2025 court date, however, was continued indefinitely with no scheduled court date at all.
The case has now lingered without appearing on the calendar for eight months. Twenty-one months have passed since the motions were heard in front of Muldrew.
A ruling on the motion in favor of the defendants would not necessarily ‘end’ the prosecution. The District Attorney’s Office could opt to reindict the case and, of course, if Muldrew ruled in favor of the state, the case would move forward as any other case would. Without a ruling, however, the case will not move forward.
The Boys & Girls Club shuttered its doors for good on July 25, 2025. The Board of Directors wrote in a letter in June 2025 that the “financial, operational, and structural challenges have proven insurmountable,” despite their best efforts.
