$20K In Bribes Is How Much GA Woman Paid Ex DeKalb Tax Tag Clerk

DEKALB COUNTY, GA — An Atlanta woman has been sentenced for paying bribes to a former supervisor in the DeKalb County Tax Commissioner’s Office, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office Northern District of Georgia.

Lesbia Lily Gonzalez Moreno, 47, is said to have bribed Gerald D. Harris to illegally register vehicles. In exchange for bribe payments, typically $200 per vehicle, Harris would register and obtain license plates for owners identified by Moreno. She paid Harris more than $20,000 in bribe payments.

“For months, Moreno paid bribes to illegally register vehicles without the necessary documentation,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine in a statement. “This corruption betrayed the trust of our citizens in government and undermined public safety.”

From at least May 2019 to November 12, 2019, Moreno repeatedly paid Harris bribe payments to register unlawfully vehicles for owners who did not present a valid Georgia driver’s license or identification card, according to the news release.

Under Georgia law, a vehicle owner cannot register a vehicle or receive a license plate unless they present a valid Georgia driver’s license or identification card at the time of application.

From July 2017 to November 2019, Harris served as the Supervisor of Tax Tag Clerks for the DeKalb County Tax Commissioner’s Office.

On July 14, 2020, Harris pleaded guilty to federal program bribery and blackmail, and was sentenced to two years in prison and three years of supervised release.

Moreno was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten to one year, one month in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, after she pleaded guilty to the charge of honest services wire fraud on June 22, 2021.

The case was investigated by the FBI, DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office, Georgia Department of Revenue, and DeKalb County Tax Commissioner’s Office.