MACON, Ga. — An employee of the Ken Nugent Law Firm has been arrested — along with at least 21 other people — for allegedly defrauding a Macon company out of "a large undisclosed amount of funds," the Bibb County Sheriff's Office said in a press release.
They say that an employee of Elite Pre-Settlement LLC reported to the sheriff's office on Oct. 13 that a large sum of funds had been stolen. Other records show at least $392,550 was allegedly stolen.
According to the sheriff's office, it was part of a scheme allegedly orchestrated by a 37-year-old former employee of the Ken Nugent Law Firm, Jennifer Croom Denton of Macon.
The arrest warrants, an incident report and the media release from the sheriff's office describe a scheme involving falsified documents, fake settlements and thousands of dollars in illegally obtained funds.
Denton's incident report says three employees of Elite Pre Settlement called the sheriff's office and reported the $392,550 in fraud. The report also says that the law firm fired Denton after learning about the crime.
For people who have received a settlement during the course of a lawsuit, Elite Pre-Settlement provides cash in advance instead of waiting for the funds to process. They say their service is for people who are "in a bind or behind on bills," their Facebook page says.
In the release, the sheriff's office says Denton created false settlement claims which would then allow them to get and cash checks from Elite Pre-Settlement LLC.
With a fake settlement claim in hand, people involved in the scheme would go to Elite Pre-Settlement LLC and receive "fraudulently obtained checks."
Those checks received from Elite Pre-Settlement were then cashed.
But instead of the company getting the money back when settlement funds were cleared, the company was "never going to be reimbursed" because those settlements didn't exist, the release said.
According to arrest warrants obtained by WMAZ, they say that Denton's attorney at the law firm "was unaware of Denton's actions."
General Council for the Ken Nugent Law Firm Stephen Anderson told 13WMAZ that the firm had no knowledge of the crime and they are actively cooperating with the investigation.
"For what it is worth, we had no knowledge of what this employee is doing," Anderson said. "We were shocked... It had nothing to do with us and our clients. These are criminal actions which are separate and apart from what her responsibilities were as one of our employees."
The arrest warrant says the other people involved in the scheme with Denton are accused of providing their driver's licenses or another ID and signing off on documents that would secure the checks from Elite Pre-Settlement.
This would then get the person a check of over $1,500, the warrants say.
Anderson emphasized that the other people who were arrested in the scheme were unconnected to the firm.
"We didn't know any of the other people involved in the scheme," he said.
According to jail records, Denton is facing felony theft by deception charges and theft by receiving stolen property.
She is also charged with 2nd-degree cruelty to children; possession of a firearm or knife during the commission of or attempt to commit certain felonies; selling possessing, distributing or other offenses associated with ecstasy; and purchase, possession, manufacture, distribution or sale of marijuana.
While 21 others were arrested with Denton, the sheriff's office notes that more arrests may be made in the case. In Denton's incident report, they say that "there will be 48 other cases," which includes the 21 other cases.
They also mentioned how they were pursuing Brian Denton, her husband. He was also arrested and is in the Bibb County Jail on theft by receiving stolen property. However, he was not mentioned in the media release from the sheriff's office.
The sheriff's office would not provide additional detail on how he fits into the case or if his charges are connected to a different situation.
Ken Nugent's response
According to Anderson, they fired Denton after another business similar to Elite reached out to them to report a similar fraud scheme. Anderson says the firm then notified Elite when learning Denton had allegedly done the same thing to them.
"We are cooperating with law enforcement," Anderson said. "But what I want to emphasize is that we were completely unaware of it."
Anderson says they are actively working with law enforcement.
"We are cooperating with law enforcement. What I want to emphasize, though, is that we were completely unaware of it."
Who else has been charged?
Among those charges in the scheme are: 26-year-old Ty'ceanna Brown, 36-year-old Brittany Goolsby, 56-year-old Essie Hargrove, 38-year-old Tamica Howard, 21-year-old Jakaylin Lucas, 35-year-old Markessa Lucas, 59-year-old Evette Oliver, 57-year-old Shenita Rainey, 39-year-old Tequandra Singletary, 49-year-old Eatasha West, 30-year-old Timothy West, 40-year-old Tykita Curtis,39-year-old Doris Harris, 30-year-old Eugenia McCrary and 58-year-old Sonya Wynes.
In an updated release, the sheriff's office added more arrests. 27-year-old Soneisha Wynes, 28-year-old, 20-year-old Lauren Hollingshed, 22-year-old Ny'Kirrea Hawkins, 20-year-old Keon Hoges and 38-year-old Raquel Lawrence.