Former Commissioner Elaine Boyer to Be Paid County Pension

Elaine Boyer, the former county commissioner who has admitted scamming DeKalb County out of nearly $80,000, will begin collecting a lifelong county pension next month.

Boyer, of Stone Mountain, resigned Aug. 25 as Commissioner of District 1. She had served as a commissioner since 1992, representing Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Tucker, and Smoke Rise.

She pleaded guilty last month to federal fraud charges tied to submitting fake invoices totaling $78,000 and misuse of her DeKalb County credit card.

Boyer faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and a $500,000 fine when she is sentenced on Dec. 3, reports WSB TV.

Boyer has applied for her county retirement payments of about $23,000 annually, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Because of a loophole in state law, Boyer will receive her full pension, even though Georgia law says public officials and employees convicted of crimes related to their duties should have their benefits reduced by three times the economic impact of their misdeeds.

“That is absurd,” state Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Brookhaven, told the newspaper. He says he will look at closing the loophole in the next legislative session. “It is entirely appropriate for Elaine Boyer’s pension to be docked as restitution to DeKalb County taxpayers.”

Boyer resigned from office in August, telling WSB TV that she betrayed her constituents and no longer wanted an investigation into the purported misuse of a county credit card to be a distraction.

“It’s a very hard decision and I’m heartbroken and saddened, but I need to resign,” Boyer told the TV station.

All of the roughly $16,000 Boyer had charged for personal expenses has been repaid to the county, WSB reports.

Federal Fraud Charges

Boyer was charged with conspiring to commit mail fraud and with wire fraud, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.

“As an elected county commissioner, Ms. Boyer had a duty to serve the best interests of the citizens of DeKalb County,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “Instead of honoring that commitment, Ms. Boyer stole from the citizens she was sworn to serve by diverting thousands of dollars in county funds to her personal bank account and using her county-issued credit card like it was her own.”

According to the FBI investigation and court documents, Boyer hired an advisor in September 2009 to assist her with government consulting and advisory duties on issues that affected her constituents. From September 2009 to November 2011, false invoices were submitted to Boyer’s office for consulting services purportedly rendered by the advisor. Authorities allege that the advisor performed no services for Boyer, her constituents, or DeKalb County.

Instead, Boyer used the false invoices as a basis to authorize 35 payments to the unnamed advisor for consulting services that were never performed. In total, DeKalb County paid the individual more than $78,000, authorities say.

The advisor deposited more than $58,000 in DeKalb County funds into Boyer’s personal bank account while retaining the remainder of the money. In turn, authorities charge, Boyer used the money deposited into her account to pay personal expenses, including purchases at hotels and high-end department stores.

Newspaper: Payments Made to Evangelist

While the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office didn’t name the advisor who allegedly helped Boyer, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Marion Rooks Boynton, a 72-year-old evangelist who ran unsuccessfully for DeKalb County offices decades ago, is the unnamed consultant. The newspaper says it had been asking Boyer for proof of the work Boynton had performed but she had none.

Boynton has not been charged in the case.

The other financial misdeed Boyer is accused of is using her county-issued credit card for more than $15,000 in personal goods and services, including purchasing airline tickets and hotel rooms for herself and her family for personal travel.