It’s been more than ten months since the former CEO and bookkeeper for the Boys & Girls Club of Bulloch County were arrested, but the case remains unindicted.
The organization asked the Statesboro Police Department to investigate allegations of financial improprieties involving the former CEO, Michael Edgar Jones, and former bookkeeper, Leslie Jones, on May 17, 2023. 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 person convicted of felony Theft by Taking is subject to imprisonment for not less than two nor more than 20 years if the property which was the subject of the theft exceeded $24,999.99 in value.
Unlike most felony cases in Bulloch County, there is no bond paperwork on file in the clerk’s office, but jail records indicate both Jones’ bonded out on $10,000 bond after one day or less in jail.
The case will be presented to the grand jury at the discretion of the District Attorney, Daphne Totten. It has been assigned to Judge Michael Muldrew.
