PINEVIEW, Ga. — In the small Wilcox County town of Pineview — population 454 — GBI agents descended on the city hall Thursday.
While the GBI will not comment on why they were there, Pineview has been in the spotlight after its own mayor, Brandon Holt, was indicted on 75 counts of theft for allegedly stealing from the city.
All told, court records, arrest warrants and statements from local law enforcement accuse the mayor of stealing nearly $65,000 from the town. That accounts for nearly $142 per resident.
Holt was indicted back on March 11, and his indictment offers a glimpse at how Holt allegedly siphoned thousands of dollars from the city through the mobile payment app CashApp. Each of the 75 counts represents a specific CashApp transaction over nearly four months.
Holt was removed from office in April after a panel of three mayors appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp found the charges prevented Holt from fulfilling his duties as mayor.
Near daily withdrawals:
According to the court documents, the alleged theft started one Monday in 2023 when Holt is accused of making two transfers from the city's bank account and into his personal CashApp: one was $200 and the other $300. That was on June 26.
Between Monday and Friday of that week, the indictment says Holt transferred a total of $4,500.
Each day, he is accused of taking between $1,000 and $500 in funds through the same method.
Then came the next week.
That Monday, July 3, the indictment lists two transfers: for $1,500 and $1,800. Then on Wednesday, another two transfers totaling $1,950. Then, there was another $1,000 the next day.
That week, Holt was accused of stealing $6,250 in five transactions.
Then, the next week came and the indictment tells the same story. Between Monday and Thursday, the indictment lists five transfers totaling $5,500. Then $4,500 the next week, and $6000 the week after that.
Week after week, the indictment says Holt made multiple transfers from the city's funds into his personal CashApp, totaling thousands of dollars. Based on the indictment, the weekly totals ranged from just over $1,000 to $6,250. On average, it says he stole an average of $4,000 a week.
The last transaction was listed as a $500 transfer on Oct. 11, 2023, but he allegedly transferred $3,200 into his CashApp that day before. Nine days after the last transaction, Wilcox County Sheriff Steve Mauldin and District Attorney Brad Rigby asked the GBI to investigate.
He was arrested on Jan. 16 and booked into the Wilcox County jail but would be released on bond.
It is unclear when that case will go to trial, but the Pineview indictment is not Holt's only theft case.
Macon-Bibb theft case:
Back in 2022, Holt was indicted in a separate theft case in Macon-Bibb County.
According to the Macon indictment, Holt was accused of stealing funds from Macon construction company, Macon Asphalt and its owner Willy Buckland.
The thefts allegedly occurred back in 2018. One transaction was in March 2018 and totaled $1,817. Then in April and July of that year, he is accused of stealing from Macon Asphalt's accounts to the tune of $20,379.
In that case, he is charged with two counts of theft and nine other counts of identity fraud.
That case is currently processing through Bibb County Superior Court with the last hearing occurring earlier this month. However, it is unclear when that case will go to trial.
We reached out to the attorney listed in Holt's Macon court records to request comment, but we did not immediately hear back.