Former Cherokee Elections Director Pleads Guilty, Gets 30 Days in Jail

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Just one month after she was indicted on charges she made personal purchases using a county-issued credit card, former Cherokee Elections Director Janet Munda has pleaded guilty to those allegations.

Munda, 56, on Thursday accepted a negotiated plea to one count of theft by taking. She was sentenced by Cherokee County Superior Court Judge Jackson Harris to a total of eight years.

However, she will only have to serve 30 days in jail and the rest of her sentence on probation. While on probation, Munda, who lives in Cumming, will have to:

• pay the required probation supervisory fee;
• pay the Cherokee County Board of Elections $864.16 in restitution;
• not consume alcoholic beverages or dangerous or narcotic drugs unless legally prescribed;
• not associate with anyone who uses or possesses illegal drugs;
• not occupy a residence where illegal drugs or alcohol are present;
• not consume alcohol and operate a motor vehicle;
• report arrests for any reason to the probation officer within 48 hours;
• not possess a firearm or occupy a residence or vehicle where a firearm is present; and
• notify any future employees of the plea agreement and provide them with a copy of the sentence if a job involves handling money or finances.

Following a six-month investigation launched by detectives with the sheriff’s office, Munda was arrested and charged in January with felony theft by taking for using her county-issued credit card for personal purchases.

The investigation against the former elections director started in June 2014 when County Manager Jerry Cooper met with investigator Nathan Luca with the sheriff’s office’s Financial Crimes Unit to discuss Munda’s improper use of county resources with unauthorized purchases made on the county-issued credit card.

Cooper provided the investigator with a packet of information, which included roughly one year’s worth of account statements for the card “in the care and control of Janet Munda,” a June 2014 incident report from the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office said.

The following month, the Cherokee County Board of Elections fired Munda from the position she held for 10 years, and turned over all files to law enforcement related to the investigation.

Kim Stancil was tapped to serve as interim elections supervisor until a permanent replacement is hired. She was eventually named to the post on a full-time basis.

Photo credit: Cherokee Sheriff’s Office