Cobb County DA To Prosecute Court Reporter Theft, Racketeering Case

The district attorney in a neighboring county will take over the investigation and prosecution of the case of three Cherokee County court reporters arrested on theft and racketeering charges.

Vic Reynolds, the district attorney for Cobb County, confirmed on Tuesday his office will be prosecuting the case.

Shannon Wallace, the district attorney for Cherokee County, said Attorney General Sam Olens appointed Reynolds or his designee as the “district attorney pro tempore of the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit for purposes of prosecuting this case.”

“I can say generally that myself and several members of my staff are potential witnesses in this matter,” she added. “Given that circumstance, I voluntarily recused my office from the prosecution of this case.”

The reporters, Tammy Stine, 55, Betty Petersen, 73 and Kimberly Probst, 50, all of Woodstock, turned themselves into the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center and have been charged with charges of theft by taking, theft by deception, giving false statements and racketeering.

Both Petersen and Probst turned themselves in on Sunday while Stine surrendered on Monday. Petersen was released on Sunday by a magistrate’s order and both Probst and Stine have since bonded out of jail, Cherokee Sheriff’s Office Lt. Jay Baker said.

The investigation started in mid-July after Wallace asked the sheriff’s office to look into possible court reporter billing irregularities.

Investigators with the sheriff’s office determined that the suspects were “intentionally mis-formatting court records and were billing the county for pages that did not exist,“ Baker stated. Baker added the alleged thefts discovered date as far back as 2006.

Court reporting transcripts are regulated by law. Investigators have charged Probst with a combined theft of $59,821, Petersen with $79,229 and Stine with $346,676.

(Photo: Court reporters Kimberly Probst, 50, Betty Petersen, 73, and Tammy Stine, 55, all of Woodstock, turned themselves in to the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center. Credit: Cherokee Sheriff’s Office)