District Attorney Announces Indictment in Theft of Funds by Atlanta Traffic Court Employee

Rodney Elliott Charged with 170 Counts for Stealing Over $6,000 in Brazen Scheme

Atlanta—Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard, Jr. (Atlanta Judicial Circuit) announces that Rodney Elliott (40) has been indicted on 170 counts for the theft of over $6,000 from the City of Atlanta Traffic Court. Elliott was charged with 166 counts of theft by taking by a government employee and four counts of forgery in the first degree. Elliott worked as a supervisor in the City of Atlanta’s Traffic Court and received money orders from citizens paying fines for various parking violations. Instead of applying the funds appropriately and logging their payment into the Court’s computer system, the defendant would take many of the money orders and simply alter the payee information by scratching out “City of Atlanta.” He would then send them on to Capital One Bank in payment of his personal credit card balance. Capital One Bank eventually brought the thefts to the attention of officials at Traffic Court when they became suspicious after receiving so many money orders with information scratched out from one single cardholder. In July 2002, the Bank’s Fraud Unit sent the Court copies of all the money orders, and, the following month, Court officials contacted the Atlanta Police Department’s Fraud Unit. The investigation revealed that from February 2001 through August 2002, Elliott stole over 160 money orders in this fashion. The total amount taken was $6,071.

Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney Peter Johnson of the Public Integrity Unit is prosecuting the case. Investigator W. Byrd of the Atlanta Police Department, along with Cameron Crandall of the District Attorney’s Office, conducted the initial investigation leading to this indictment.
These charges are merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

CONTACT: Erik Friedly, 404.224.0560 (office); 770.583.6069 (pager); erik.friedly@co.fulton.ga.us