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Marietta Daily JournalMarietta Daily JournalTHURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013 75 CENTSBREAKING NEWS 24/7 @ MDJONLINE.COM

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SPRAYBERRY SENIOR RUNNINGOWN GRAPHIC DESIGN BUSINESS

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MARIETTA WOMAN GETTING MINTJULEPS READY FOR DERBY PARTY

LIFESTYLE / 1D

Men accused of bilking woman, 91, out of $2.8M

By Lindsay Fieldlfield@mdjonline.com

MARIETTA — A father andson from Gainesville remain inthe Cobb County Jail after theyallegedly swindled almost

$3 million from a 91-year-oldMarietta woman.

Jeffrey T. Carr, 39, and JosephT. Carr, 65, were arrested Tues-day by investigators with theCobb County Sheriff’s FraudUnit on exploitation charges. Jef-frey Carr was also arrested onfour counts of theft by taking andJoseph Carr on one count of theftby receiving stolen property.

Jeffrey Carr remains in thecounty jail on a $500,000 bond,

and his father isheld on a$100,000 bond.

According towarrants, JeffreyCarr is accused oftaking $2.8 mil-lion from theelderly woman byinfluencing her tosign over her power of attorneyand accepting fees, rent pay-ments, commissions, legal fees

and other charges.He is also

accused of mov-ing her to a rehabfacility inGainesville,“essentially isolat-ing her from con-tact with herdaughters and

friends, despite the victim’s ini-tial request to go to a facilityclose to her residence in Cobb

County,” according to a releaseby the Sheriff’s Office.

Jeffrey Carr later took her outof the assisted living home inGainesville and moved her into abedroom in his parents’ home.

Joseph Carr is accused ofaccepting a total of $691,920from the elderly woman’saccounts between 2011 and 2013.

Some of the money has been

Joseph T.Carr, 65

Jeffrey T.Carr, 39

By Lindsay Fieldlfield@mdjonline.com

MARIETTA — Failure to report allega-tions against Awtrey Middle School Princi-pal Jeff Crawford have been dismissed bythe Cobb County School District.

“We are relieved and pleased to hear thatcommon sense has prevailed and that the

matter is being dismissed,”said Crawford’s attorney,Justin O’Dell. “Mr. Craw-ford is looking forward topreparing for the end of theschool year and the schoolyear to come. He is happyto be rid of this distractionand able to focus entirely oneducation.”

O’Dell said he received aphone call from the district attorney Tues-day about the dismissal.

Crawford, a 21-year educator with 14years of experience as an administrator, wasaccused of incompetency, insubordinationand willful neglect of duties for failure toreport a female student’s allegation of rape.

The school district also faulted Crawfordfor not returning to school on Jan. 18 fol-lowing a meeting regarding the accusations.

Crawford was scheduled to appear at ahearing for his appeal against his suspensionof one day without pay in two weeks.

By Leo Hohmannlhohmann@mdjonline.com

MARIETTA — CobbPolice and the NationalPark Service are lookingfor a man who reportedlyexposed himself to two col-lege-aged women at Ken-nesaw Mountain NationalBattlefield Park and thenassaulted one of thewomen.

He escaped in a redFord dually pickup truck. Ifcaught, he will be chargedwith public indecency andsimple battery for the actthat occurred Tuesday near750 Cheatham Hill Road.

According to investiga-tors, as the two womenwere walking in the Nation-al Battlefield Park, they sawa man standing at the woodline, nude from the waistdown and fondling himself.The man then charged at thetwo women, both collegestudents, knocking one ofthem to the ground.

One of the womenreportedly chased after theattacker.

“My hat is off to thetwo ladies,” said NancyWalther, park superinten-dent. “She chased himdown and called 911 andgave a description of thevehicle and of the suspectand now as a result wehave that great sketch fromthe GBI.”

Bail set at $100K,$500K for father,son in Cobb jail

See Accused, Page 4A

ClaimsagainstprincipaldroppedVeteran educator hadbeen accused of failingto report alleged rape

JeffCrawford

See Principal, Page 4A

FlasheraccostswomenOne knocked toground as manflees in red truck

Police sketch of suspect.

See Accosts, Page 4A

FIT FOR LIFE

The new fitness center atSwift-Cantrell Park in Ken-nesaw was dedicated thisweek and immediately test-ed by local residents. Top:Marine recruiter Sgt. TimKing does some chin-upsafter the ribbon-cutting cer-emony. Right: Kathy Hoff-man of Kennesaw tries afew pushups. Below:Miranda Jones, assistant tothe Kennesaw city manag-er, tries out the shoulderpress. The center is spon-sored by Life University.

Staff/Laura Moon

Whitlock Avenue part of redevelopment bond talksBy Jon Gilloolyjgillooly@mdjonline.com

MARIETTA — The CityCouncil spent several hoursWednesday night debating how a$35 million bond should be spent,ultimately opting to continue thediscussion at its next work ses-sion May 6.

If the council puts the bond

referendum on the ballot, voterswould decide its fate Nov. 5.

At the request of the council,Beth Sessoms, the city’s econom-ic development director, present-ed suggestions on how the $35million bond could be spent:dividing $25 million for buyingaging apartment complexes alongFranklin Road; $7.3 million fortwo new roads that would run

east of Southern PolytechnicState and Life universities, con-necting those schools withFranklin Road and whateverfuture redevelopment occursthere; $1.5 million for WhitlockAvenue sidewalks, landscapingand pedestrian street lamps; and$1.2 million to renovate the for-mer Lemon Street School, hometo the city’s and county’s black

students prior to desegregation.Given that the bond would be

issued under the Urban Redevel-opment Powers Law, Sessomssaid it was necessary to amendthe city’s urban redevelopmentplan to include Whitlock Avenuefor it to receive bond money.

Councilmembers Jim King and

See Talks, Page 5A

HEAD GAMESCAMPBELL BOYS

WIN STATE MATCHSPORTS / 1C

YESTERDAY INDEX

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Cobb Schools spokesmanJay Dillon said the hearingfor Crawford has been can-celed, but declined to con-firm whether the allegationshave been dismissed.

O’Dell said he hopes theschool district has learnedsomething from this mis-take.

“I am hopeful that thisdismissal is thefirst step by theschool districton a path tochanging theentire processof investigat-ing and charg-ing educatorsin order toavoid othershaving to gothrough a situ-ation like Mr.Crawford,”O’Dell said.

CobbSchool BoardChair Randy Scamihornsaid he had not beenbriefed on the dismissal orhearing cancellation, butsaid that anytime anemployee is given anotherchance, it is a good thing.

He also spoke on whatCobb Schools is doing inreference to future manda-tory reporting problems.

“We are in the processof reviewing the proce-dures,” he said. “I’ve beenpatient because these thingssometimes become com-

plex, and the district mayneed time to work throughchanges and the ramifica-tions of any changes.”

Three employees losttheir jobs on similar allega-tions last school year. Theywere also criminallycharged and the SolicitorGeneral’s Office droppedcharges against one of themearlier this year.

Directors with two ofCobb County’s professionalteachers’ organizations saythey are pleased with the

district’s deci-sion.

“We areabsolutelythrilled by thisdevelopmentand that a vet-eran educatorwho didn’t doanythingwrong hasbeen clearedand won’t befacing the sus-pension,” saidJohn Adamswith Educa-tors First.

“We’reglad that someone in thecentral office finally decid-ed to take a look at thiscase and do the rightthing,” he said. “I hope, asthe result of this case andwhat comes out of this,going forward humanresources and the districtwill treat employees muchbetter and employees willtruly be viewed as innocentuntil proven guilty.”

In the future, Adamssaid he also believes the

district needs to take aharder look at how it han-dles not only mandatedreporting cases but employ-ee discipline and personnelinvestigations in general.

He learned about thedismissal Wednesday.

Connie Jackson with theCobb County Associationof Educators agreed withAdams.

“I think that teachers andstaff have been careful notto violate the failure toreport law, and I think thatbecause it has been so wide-ly publicized, there might

have been a rush to judg-ment, and I’m glad to seethat the district took time tostep back and fully assessthe situation,” she said.

Like Adams, she hopesthe district will do moreresearch before makingallegations.

“I think my memberswill be glad to see that thedistrict is taking a morethoughtful approach to han-dling discipline because wehave always encouragedmore time to investigatecharges before they arebrought,” Jackson said.

Authorities released acomposite sketch from theGeorgia Bureau of Investi-gation that shows a light-skinned man, possibly His-panic, in his late 20s to early30s with a goatee and shag-gy, curly hair.

He fled on foot to a fadedred mid-1990s model Fordpickup and was last seen dri-ving westbound on DallasHighway towards PauldingCounty, police said.

The suspect was tall, pos-sibly up to 6-foot-3, and 230pounds. He possibly hashazel eyes and was last seenwearing a light blue short-sleeve T-shirt with unknownwriting on it and gray cargo-style shorts.

Michael Bowman, withCobb Police, said thatagency has increased patrolsof the park and parkingareas. The National Parkrangers have also posted thesketch and photos of the redtruck at every trail head inthe park.

Walther said the park ispatrolled by both CobbCounty Police and speciallytrained rangers.

“Cobb County PoliceDepartment, they’ve taken thelead on this case,” Walthersaid. “But we have what wecall visitor protection rangers,and they are sent to the Feder-al Law Enforcement TrainingCenter for training.”

She said these rangers aretrained to protect more than

just people.“We differ from regular

police departments, as weare not only protecting thevisitors but also theresources. We have 11 milesof earthworks, which is pret-ty amazing if you thinkabout it, and they protectthose resources.”

Tuesday’s incident wasthe first of a criminal naturethis year, Walther said.

“I can tell you from myperspective from managingthe park that this is the firstincident this year. I don’tthink this is isolated, though.I think in the spring time wedo get the occasional personthat comes in and is doingdeviant behavior. It’s not theonly time it’s happened, butit’s not a regular occurrence.”

She praised Cobb CountyPolice Department for thejob it does in lending a handat the park.

“We are a small staff. Ifwe didn’t have the relation-ship that we have with CobbCounty, they are there,they’re in our parking lot,they go to the top of themountain, they help us withthe accidents.

“We couldn’t do it withoutthem. It’s a really special rela-tionship. They look after us.”

The park also relies on itsvisitors to be its eyes andears, she said.

Similar incidents mayhave occurred prior to thisincident and police are ask-ing that anyone who mayrecognize this suspect orwho has information thatmay assist investigators, tocall (770) 499-3945.

Continued from Page 1A

Accosts

recovered by investigatorswhile working with theCobb District Attorney’sOffice and Adult ProtectiveServices through seizuresof bank accounts in thename of Jeffrey Carr andthe woman.

Search warrants execut-ed by the county fraud unitresulted in investigatorsconfiscating four Cadillacsand two Rolex watches,which they believe werepurchased with thewoman’s money.

Nancy Bodiford with theSheriff’s Office said inves-tigators can’t say exactlyhow much money has beenconfiscated, but they havefrozen several bankaccounts totaling $1.5 mil-lion.

She also said the casehas been “extremely activeand ongoing,” and informa-tion about the relationshipbetween Carr and the elder-ly woman cannot bereleased.

Anyone with informa-tion on other exploitationincidents or the abuse ofelders, can contact theSheriff’s Office at (770)499-4752.

Ways to avoid beingscammed

Pat King with the Geor-gia Division of Aging saidcrimes like the ones Jeffreyand Joseph Carr werearrested for are “explod-ing.” And the elderly areparticularly at risk becausethey are more often target-ed by swindlers.

“We’re seeing more andmore (cases),” she saidWednesday. “In fact, I’dsay 90 percent of thecrimes against the elderlyare money driven.”

She said in the pastcases involving elderly vic-tims and their powers ofattorney have been civilmatters, but that doesn’tgive an individual theauthority to steal fromsomeone.

King said predators canbe clever in how they gaintrust from a senior citizen.

“They will make friendswith you and slowly butsurely isolate you, gainyour trust, and that’s whenthey start appearing on

bank accounts, financialstatements or assets,” shesaid. “We just need to startlooking out better for ourolder population.”

King recommends tak-ing these steps to avoidelder abuse or exploitationfor the general public:

• Get on “Do Not Call”lists;

• Don’t sign any docu-

ment just placed in front ofyou;

• Shred anything thatcomes in the mail with per-sonal or banking informa-tion on it;

• Get caller ID;• Get periodic credit

checks;• Never provide personal

information to someoneover the phone;

• Have a trustworthyperson look over bankstatements;

• Get an attorney whospecializes in laws thatapply to senior citizens;and

• Stay in touch withelderly family members.

Continued from Page 1A

Accused

NEWS Marietta Daily Journal/THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013� PAGE 4A

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Continued from Page 1A

Principal

I hope, as the result ofthis case and what comes

out of this, going for-ward human resources

and the district will treatemployees much better

and employees will trulybe viewed as innocent

until proven guilty.

— John Adams,Educators First

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