Former Cherokee Court Reporters Indicted On Racketeering Charges

Three former Cherokee County reporters have been indicted for violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act when they allegedly siphoned the county out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A Cobb County grand jury on Thursday handed down the indictments against Woodstock residents Tammy Stine, Betty Petersen and Kimberly Probst. All three former court reporters have been indicted on one count each of violating the RICO Act, the office of Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds said.

“RICO typically means a pattern of specific criminal activity,” said Kim Isaza, spokesperson for the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office. “The predicate acts alleged in the indictment are those underlying criminal acts. If jurors decide the defendant is guilty of two or more of the listed predicate acts, the defendant is guilty of (violating) RICO.”

The Judicial Council of Georgia spells out practices for court reporters, and establishes the fee schedule to provide a uniform style for court transcripts. The council established that pages of official court transcripts must consist of at least 25 typed lines, with each line containing at least 63 character spaces.

Per Council rules, reporters were also required to be compensated $3.57 per page in 2006; $3.67 from 2007 through 2008; and $3.78 per page from 2009 through June 26, 2014.

The indictment alleges Petersen, Probst and Stine all increased “pitched spacing and reduced margins in order to reduce the number of characters per line below 63” and invoiced the counties they served for nonexistent pages. Additionally, both Probst and Stine are accused of also invoicing the county for transcripts not filed with the office of Clerk of Cherokee County Superior Court.

According to the indictment, Petersen served as a Cherokee court reporter between Jan. 10, 2006, and Nov. 27. 2012. The indictment spells out 16 instances in which she allegedly performed the two aforementioned acts. She’s accused of receiving over $55,000 as a result of her activities.

Probst served as a court reporter for the Appalachian Judicial Circuit — covering Pickens, Gilmer and Fannin counties — from Dec. 6, 2006, and Jan. 28, 2011. She worked as a court reporter for Cherokee County Superior Court between Feb. 2, 1011, and June 26, 2014.

The indictment also cites 27 instances Probst allegedly performed these acts, which also garnered her more than $55,000.

Stine was employed as a court reporter between Jan. 10, 2006, and June 26, 2014. The indictment lays out 27 instances in which she performed these acts, which resulted in her receiving over $225,000 from the county.

The investigation started in mid-July after Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace asked the Cherokee 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,“ sheriff’s office spokesperson Lt. Jay Baker said in September.

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

State 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.”

Wallace previously told Patch that she and her staff are potential witnesses in the case, which propelled her to voluntarily recuse herself from the prosecution of the case.

(Photo: Former court reporters (from left) Betty Petersen, Kimberly Probst and Tammy Stine, all of Woodstock, have been indicted on one count each of violating Georgia’s RICO Act Credit: Cherokee Sheriff’s Office)